Lethbridge to benefit from new community paramedic program
CALGARY — The province announced on Tuesday that it has dedicated $11-Million to expand a Community Paramedic Program. The program has existed in Calgary since 2012 and in Edmonton since 2014.
Ten additional paramedics are being added in each of Edmonton and Calgary to complement 30 others who are already providing the service. Another 26 full-time positions are slated for Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Camrose, Grande Prairie and Peace River. Lethbridge is expected to have three of the specified paramedics by the end of May.
Northern Alberta EMS Director and Community Paramedic Program administrator, Dale Weiss, explains the program is designed to deal with vulnerable members of the community who have difficulty getting out of their home.
“These programs will see paramedics that respond in SUV-type vehicles with advanced equipment for assessment of non-urgent medical needs, and we’re focussing on continuing care sites and home care type patients so that the vast majority of those will impact seniors or those with limited mobility.”
There will be a difference between home care nurses and the community paramedic program.
Weiss notes that home care nurses are scheduled for specific visits, while the specified paramedics will work with physicians to deal with medical issues that may need immediate attention but, don’t necessarily require a visit to the hospital or a doctor’s office.
The intention of the program is to eliminate the potential risk and stress a hospital visit can put seniors through, while reducing wait times in hospital ERs for people who don’t need emergency care.
According to Weiss, the community paramedics positions will be new hires, which will not impact the service of existing EMS personnel.
“These are separate jobs, so they don’t do both – they are dedicated to this work, we give them additional training and additional skills to be able to work in this environment and they do not take away from the traditional work of EMS.”
Weiss states that the new program is not a pilot program.
“This funding stays in place and the intention is to build off the programs that are in Edmonton and Calgary, although being adaptive to specific communtities, so in Lethbridge we will be looking at specifically what we want to do but, this will be a go-forward thing and probably will expand into other areas when it is applicable.”
