by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Oct. 10, 2024

Born and raised in the Port Loyola area of Belize City, 33-year-old Roberto Riverol has made many Belizeans at home proud as he has completed his studies in Virginia, USA, and became the country’s first and only firefighter who is a paramedic.

Riverol told Amandala that he was employed at a call center in 2016, but made the life-changing decision to join the fire service, as he became a dad during the recruitment period.

“I was thinking about his [his child’s] future,” he said. “It would be a more stable career compared to where I was. I decided to [take the] test and [went] through the selection process and got accepted. So, I would say in a nutshell, what inspired me was having a stable career, but one that I was able to be out in the real world, being active and helping, as I am an active person, and never saw myself behind a cubicle or desk every day,” Riverol added.

After completing the training process, Riverol was stationed in Belize City. During his time in the fire service, he developed a greater appreciation for the job and became one of the best. Throughout his career, opportunities were presented, including the opportunity by Hanover Fire-EMS (Emergency Medical Services) in Virginia, established by Belize Heroes, where he participated in training involving firefighting, hazmat, and pre-hospital care.

After returning to Belize, Riverol shared his knowledge and trained his peers. In another opportunity that presented itself in 2020 through the US Embassy’s CARSI grant program, ambulances and equipment were acquired to integrate EMS provided by the fire service similar to other nations. Through the funding, personnel were trained on how to transport the ambulances and equipment from the US to Belize to Provide Basic Life Support to our citizens, which was needed the most in rural areas.

Riverol got another opportunity to participate in an accelerated two-year degree course that would be completed in less than half the time. He enrolled in Pediatric Advance Life Support, Advance Cardiovascular Support, and Pharmacology along with other courses.

“I successfully passed the course and proceeded to take the US National Registry exam for Paramedics which certified me for practice as a Paramedic … This is going to be the stepping stone for us to be able to provide advanced care to our citizens, where the use of advanced interventions can be used such as pharmacological intervention, cardio-electric therapy, and advanced airway stabilization, to name a few, opposed to just rapid transport with basic interventions,” he explained.

“My role will be to assist and coordinate in getting our medics trained up to the advanced level across the board, and put us in a position to provide a higher quality of critical care when the seconds count,” he added.

In November, Riverol will be returning to Belize, and is focused on training Belize’s firefighters in EMS and spearheading the advancement of the country’s EMS program and its expansion into other jurisdictions such as Orange Walk and Corozal.

Aside from being stationed in Belize City, Riverol has been stationed in Corozal, Dangriga, and now San Ignacio/Santa Elena.

He was in the Hanover Fire-EMS 2nd Cohort for the year 2023/2024.