Kaber Koski is a Primary Care Paramedic who works out of High Prairie Hall in the Slave Lake District. He is an inspiring paramedic, father, Traditional Dancer and pillar in his community of Sucker Creek First Nations, located about fifteen minutes outside High Prairie.
What made you want to get into Emergency Medical Services (EMS)?
Before I was a Medical First Responder (MFR), I worked and am currently still on Fire (Department) and we ended up doing Medical Services on the nation as part of the fire team. It’s been eight years doing fire and medical calls working alongside Alberta Health Services (AHS). I decided I wanted to stay working in the ambulance so that I could provide a higher level of care to my nations, and the nations surrounding us.
How does your work impact the communities in and around High Prairie?
One of the biggest impacts for the community is that is we're making a difference in it; we are there in a crisis when it’s absolutely needed. We’re providing a high level of care to people in the community and surrounding communities in an efficient manner.
Do you have any other involvement in the community?
Absolutely. My main involvement is responding for our emergencies which include medicals, fires, accidents, and whatever kind of call that comes in. I also attend a lot of our traditional cultural events and am involved with getting our pow wow up and running every year. I’m a Men’s Traditional Dancer and I keep fire and help with cultural activities in the community and elsewhere. My family is heavily involved in the nation as well in emergency response. My dad is the fire chief, and my mom was in nursing for 33 years, including with AHS.
What supports and barriers have you found along your career journey?
The great thing about being MFRs on the nation is that we’ve been building a relationship with AHS and their employees for a long time now. The biggest challenge is when we get new crews in and they don't know who we are. But building that relationship is key. It paved the way for me to working for AHS. It really helped how paramedics respond to the nations, how they spoke with people and how they treated people.
Our relationship built a different kind of rapport. Because I'm able to say, “These guys are really good. They're gonna take you to the hospital, and they're going to take care of you”, they would follow suit with that and treat people well. I think we’ve built a more trusting relationship between health care and the nations and it’s shaping how we treat each other. These are my family members that I’m coming to respond to, and these are our community members.
There were no real barriers blocking me along my career journey. Others have faced other barriers such as remote living, and travelling off the nation to get the training, commitment barriers. Cultural barriers too, as we come from different cultural backgrounds, so there’s going to be some differences.
I have to give a huge shout out to my nation of Sucker Creek! They really supported me throughout my career and my training, including in my current training to become an Advanced Care Paramedic.
One of the biggest challenges I have is being away from my family! Even being away for training for seven days is really hard for me! Coming off a nation where my family lives, and everybody lives, to going somewhere else where you don’t know anybody is tough. Thankfully, my current school is distance (virtual), and my practicum is not too far away.
Anything else you’d like to add or want to share about your personal career journey?
It's just a great job! I like working with the people and other professions like doctors and nurses and learning from them. The constant learning and social aspect are really enjoyable for me. The biggest drive has been providing that higher level of service and care to the nations and surrounding community.
Even with my dancing, I like being out there and showing other people that they can do it too. Maybe I can inspire other young Indigenous Peoples to get involved.
