Nova Scotia seeks to train up to 200 emergency medical responders over next 2 years

Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services expects the first graduates of an emergency response training program will be on the road this summer. 

Nova Scotia will join several other provinces in licensing and employing emergency medical responders, according to an announcement on Friday. 

Jeff Fraser, executive director of Emergency Health Services with the Department of Health and Wellness, said the new health-care professionals will assist paramedics. 

Emergency medical responders will receive 12 weeks of training in Nova Scotia by Medavie HealthEd. The province is looking to train up to 200 people for the positions over two years. 

“The emergency medical responder is really trained to provide basic emergency medical care, things like assessing and managing patients at the scene, administering CPR, controlling bleeding, stabilizing injuries,” Fraser said in an interview Friday.

Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson said emergency medical responders will also be able to assist with hospital patient transfers and assist in offload areas in emergency rooms. 

Paramedics waiting in ERs

Dr. Margaret Fraser, with the emergency department at Cape Breton Regional Hospital, said there have been temporary measures to address offload times, but it remains an ongoing issue. 

She said it is not uncommon to come into the emergency department and pass more than half a dozen stretchers with patients on them.

“Our back hallway is almost perpetually crowded with EHS, stretchers and patients waiting to be seen,” Fraser said in an interview. 

Jeff Fraser said the new role also presents a path for health professionals to work their way up to becoming paramedics. He said clinical transport operators can upgrade to become emergency medical responders and then complete paramedic training.

“The paramedic training is intense, it’s 54 weeks,” he said. 

“This gives folks an opportunity… to see how they feel about this, whether or not they want to go forward.”