Community fundraising for Sask. paramedics struck by a car while vacationing in Las Vegas
CBC
Financial support is pouring in online for two Saskatchewan women who were struck by a car in Las Vegas.
Katrine Sinclair and Charlie Lastowsky, both paramedics from Prince Albert, had travelled to Las Vegas on April 17 to celebrate Sinclair's 21st birthday and their recent graduation from paramedic school.
The pair was walking through the city when they were hit by a vehicle while on a crosswalk, according to Sinclair's mother, Roberta Sinclair.
"It's a parent's worst nightmare when you get a phone call about your child being involved in an accident," Roberta said.
Roberta said she received the news at 2:30 a.m. on April 19 that her daughter and Lastowksy had been seriously injured and were being taken to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
"Katrine suffered a fractured pelvis in three places, a broken rib, a broken humerus, and later we learned she also had fractures in her L3 and L5 vertebrae," Roberta said.
She caught a direct flight from Saskatoon to Las Vegas on Sunday.
"They were — and still are — in a lot of pain," she said, adding the best friends are sharing a hospital room.
Shaylynn Naytowhow, who grew up close with Sinclair's family, members of the Métis Nation, launched a GoFundMe campaign that's now circulating online to pay the medical bills.
"I was very shocked because it's just like my whole entire adolescent years of watching [Katrine Sinclair] grow up, it just like flashed through my eyes and I was, like, devastated and shocked," said Naytowhow.
She wanted to include Lastowsky in the fundraiser, despite not knowing her.
"I don't know Charlie personally, I never had the chance to meet her," she said. "But I felt that sense of inclusiveness. They went through paramedic school together, they're friends, and they got into this horrible accident together."
The campaign, which had raised more than $66,000 as of Tuesday night, said the girls were "far from home, without access to Canadian healthcare, and—most urgently—without health insurance to cover the overwhelming medical expenses."
CBC was unable to reach the Lastowsky family. The GoFundMe page said both young women suffered "severe life altering injuries."
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