He embarked on an intensive sign-language program after he went on a medical call last summer and the 6-year-old daughter of a deaf woman ended up being a translator between emergency personnel and her mother.
"I had no idea what she was signing and what her mother was telling her," he said.
In the past, Labrecque has responded to a handful of calls that involve deaf or hearing-impaired people.
"It's frustrating," he said. "The deaf community has no other way of communicating besides sign language, so if I want to get medical information about my victim, I should know their language," he said.
In the Search and Rescue, or other similar emergency events, there seems to be a shortages of these people who have sign language skills. It's good to know that I have something to offer in a forest fire emergency setting and this awareness will need to be raised since the wildfire season will peak in July/August. One never know should a community with a lot of deaf members be forced to evacuate because of a fire and whatnot. What are the resources in those areas? It's something that I can look into.
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