FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 14, 2023
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada release vision for future focused on patients, evidence, and ongoing learning
Report titled ‘Principles and Enabling Factors Guiding Paramedicine in Canada’ released with focus on new priorities for industry
KELOWNA, B.C. – The Paramedics Chiefs of Canada (PCC) has published a paper outlining a new set of guidelines for the future of paramedicine in Canada at its national Leadership Summit in Kelowna, B.C.
In 2007, the Emergency Medical Services Chiefs of Canada (EMSCC) – now PCC – put forward its first visioning document, The Future of EMS in Canada: Defining the New Road Ahead, which outlined six strategic directions ranging from community safety, health promotion, partnership development, and research and technology innovation and investment.
Since the release of that white paper, PCC has worked to update that vision to respond to challenges in the health-care sector in Canada.
Following a published environmental scan and literature review of existing national and international frameworks, and a national study that included input from national leaders of paramedicine has resulted in the release of an updated visioning document ‘Principles and Enabling Factors Guiding Paramedicine in Canada, A Community-Based Healthcare System’.
In this document the PCC is advocating for collaboration of the paramedicine profession in Canada. Strategies in the original framework have been expanded into 10 research-informed principles with six key enabling factors. These principles and enablers are intended to serve as a guiding conceptual framework for the structuring and advancement of paramedicine in Canada.
The updated vision is guided by 10 principles:
- Patients and their communities first
- Healthcare along a health and social continuum
- Integrated healthcare framework
- Social responsiveness
- Professional autonomy
- Healthy professionals
- Quality-based framework
- Intelligent access to and distribution of services
- Continuous learning environment
- Evidence-informed practice and systems
It is also guided by six enabling factors:
- Shift professional culture and identity
- Enhance knowledge
- Promote a shared understanding of paramedicine
- Integrate data environments
- Leverage advanced technology
- Advance policy, regulation, and legislation
“We believe that the present state of paramedicine as well as the profession itself are not viable,” said Kelly Nash, executive director with PCC. “Paramedicine requires urgent changes to meet the needs of patients and their communities, the healthcare system, and our providers. Although those challenges are great, so too are the opportunities.”
Collectively, the new principles and enabling factors commit the paramedic profession to be accountable to and for itself, to also have greater accountability to the public and communities they serve, and to better align services with patient, community, and healthcare system needs.
“A future vision for paramedicine is essential for meeting the needs of patients and communities as pressures continue to mount on our health care system across Canada,” said Dale Weiss, lead author, past president of Paramedic Chiefs of Canada, and an advisor to Emergency Medical Services, Alberta Health Services. “Using extensive research by lead researcher Dr. Walter Tavares the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada have put forward a framework for the future that can fit every service in every community, as they prepare for the future.”
Paramedicine’s community focus and its position as a mobile healthcare service has led governments to increasingly call upon the profession to contribute. The new vision document looks at how emerging philosophies in health care are a catalyst for this new thinking in how paramedicine is structured to respond to the needs of society.
About the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada
- Founded in 2003, the Paramedic Chiefs of Canada (PCC) is a non-profit organization representing all of Canada’s paramedicine systems in its ten provinces and three territories. Established to advance and align Paramedicine in Canada the PCC provides a national voice for the profession, thought leadership, change influence, and knowledge exchange.
Learn More
- Paramedic Chiefs of Canada: www.paramedicchiefs.ca
- New report ‘Principles and Enabling Factors Guiding Paramedicine in Canada, A Community-Based Healthcare System’: https://www.paramedicchiefs.ca/docs/PCC-Full-Report-with-TTPS.pdf
- 2007 backgrounder on White Paper on future of emergency medical services in Canada: https://www.emscc.ca/docs/EMSCC-Backgrounder.pdf
- Paramedic Chiefs of Canada national conference bios and presenters: https://paramedicchiefsleadershipsummit.com/speakers/
Media Contact: Media Relations, BC Emergency Health Services, media@bcehs.ca and Kelly Nash, Executive Director, PCC kellynash@paramedicchiefs.com / (403) 463-1210
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada Board & Executive 2023 Election Results
PCC Executive
President – Kevin Smith, Chief Systems and Strategy Officer, BC Emergency Health Services
Vice President – Marc-Andre Periard, Paramedic Chief and Emergency Services Director, for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Secretary – Christian Schmidt, Chief of Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service
Treasurer – Gerry Schriemer, Chief Operating Officer, Medavie Health Services West
Past President – Randy Mellow, Chief, Peterborough County Paramedics
PCC Board of Directors
Ontario seat – Michael Adair, Regional Director, Ontario Operations, Medavie Health Services, Perth
Yukon seat – Gerard Dinn, Chief Yukon EMS
Saskatchewan seat – Gerry Schriemer, Chief Operating Officer, Medavie Health Services West
Prince Edward Island seat – Darcy Clinton, Paramedic Chief, Medavie Health Services PEI
Manitoba seat – Christian Schmidt, Chief of Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service
British Columbia seat– Deb Trumbley, Director Patient Care Delivery, BCEHS
Quebec seat– Louis-Olivier Roussin, Director of Operations, Ambulance St. Gabriel
New Brunswick seat – Jean-Pierre Savoie, Vice-President of Operations, Ambulance New Brunswick
Nova Scotia seat – Charbel Daniel, Director of Operations, EMCI
Newfoundland seat – Michelle Breen, Chief of Paramedicine, Eastern Health
Alberta seat – Marty Scott, Executive Director, EMS Provincial Programs, Alberta Health Services
Regional seat – B.C & Yukon – Kevin Smith, Chief Systems and Strategy Officer, BC Emergency Health Services
Regional seat – Ontario & Quebec – Marc-Andre Periard, Paramedic Chief and Emergency Services Director, for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell
Regional seat – Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick & Newfoundland – Jan Jensen, Executive Director, EMCI
Regional seat – Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba – Ryan Sneath, Deputy Chief, Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service
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