Monday, October 15, 2007

** Ottawa to hire more paramedics?

** BC Ambulance team takes silver at Asia Pacific International Conference skills competition

CANADA NEWS

** Disappointing Ottawa EMS response times have prompted a City committee to recommend the hiring of 90 more paramedics between now and 2009. That is the word from the Ottawa Sun (Derek Puddicombe/October 14) which quoted the paper as saying 38 practitioners should be taken on in the next year. Costing some $3 million, the approach could aid current response time difficulties which see medics arrive at life threatening calls in just under nine minutes 64.5 per cent of the time. The standard is 90 per cent of the time. Rural medics, meanwhile, arrive in just under 16 minutes to such calls about 80 per cent of the time;the optimum is 90 per cent. The aging population and ambulance tie-ups at ER are being blamed for the delays.

** A team of BC Ambulance paramedics is waxing victorious, after winning a silver medal at the Asia Pacific International Conference in Australia on September 28. The event, which included an inaugural Simulation Challenge, saw the team of four demonstrate clinical skills alongside representatives from other services worldwide. Along with being judged on completing treatment objectives, the competitors were also scrutinized for their ability to work with a team, their interaction with bystanders, and completing their calls in a timely fashion. Sporting more than 100 years of combined experience in EMS, the Canadian group included Vancovuer ALS paramedic Andy Fletcher, Vancouver unit chief and CBRN specialist Rene Bernklau, Richmond ALS paramedic John Richmond, and Richmond ALS paramedic Clarke McGuire.