May 31, 2013
CALGARY– Specially trained paramedics are treating residents in local supportive living facilities and community lodges as part of a new Alberta Health Services-Emergency Medical Services (AHS-EMS) program that delivers additional primary health care.
The Community Paramedic Program employs 10 paramedics to provide additional support to the multidisciplinary health care teams based in the city’s supportive living facilities and community lodges. These community paramedics are able to perform some assessments, diagnostics and treatments in the resident’s home that would otherwise need to be done in an AHS facility.
These treatments include using an electrocardiogram to measure electrical activity in the heart; monitoring vital signs; collecting laboratory specimens; administering medications; wound care and suturing; catheterization; and rehydration therapy.
“Our paramedics work with family physicians and a dedicated on-call physician network for almost immediate consultation to begin patient treatment sooner,” says Ryan Kozicky, operations manager for the Community Paramedic Program. “Our goal is to provide early treatment to prevent patient conditions from worsening and possibly requiring transportation to an emergency department.”
John Thiele, a resident of Walden Heights in southeast Calgary, has been treated by a community paramedic for two separate health care incidents since the program launched late last year. He is one of about 600 patients who have benefited from the program to date.
“It is better to have care here as opposed to going to the hospital,” says Thiele. “The paramedics know what they are doing and it is good to avoid a trip to the emergency department.”
In addition to their past training and experience, paramedics in the program also undergo six additional weeks of classroom training, followed by a four-week practicum with nurse practitioners in supportive living facilities, to provide additional education around community-based health.
Community paramedic Lee-Anne Reggin worked for EMS in Calgary for eight years before joining the new program.
“As a traditional paramedic, you are often only able to provide episodic care and rarely know what happens to patients after you transfer them to hospital care,” Reggin says. “But working in the supportive living facilities, we spend more time with our patients and provide thorough assessments, treatment and followup care.”
These specialized paramedics are not part of the traditional Calgary EMS fleet. They travel in SUVs that carry the equipment and medications they need but do not have lights or sirens and cannot transport patients.
“We are able to work directly with dispatch to arrange appropriate patient transport to hospital or directly to a diagnostic imaging centre, if required,” says Reggin.
To date, more than 90 patient transports have been arranged based on patient need and physician consultation.
“The goal of the community paramedic is to help ensure that patients have access to primary care so patient’s health does not deteriorate to the point of requiring an emergency department visit,” says Kozicky.
Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than 3.8 million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.
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