Paramedics and the Moral Dilemma of Overdose Prevention Sites

Deborah Cooper is Primary Care paramedic with Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS). In April, Frontenac County Council approved FPS participation in a six-month pilot project to establish an Overdose Prevention Site in Kingston. Much conversation has been generated with the Ontario government’s announcement in January 2018 of the application for overdose prevention sites, similar to safe injection sites [5].  Overdose prevention sites are temporary locations operating for up to six months whereas safe injection sites are permanent locations.  Overdose prevention sites are...

11 June, 2018
Prescott-Russell Racing Against Drugs

Each May, Prescott-Russell Emergency Medical Service partners with several local agencies and private businesses to stage “Racing Against Drugs,” a community-based drug and alcohol awareness program for almost 1,000 Grade Six students. Racing Against Drugs is a bilingual community-based drug and alcohol awareness program that demonstrates the benefits of a drug and alcohol free lifestyle and offers various alternatives to students by teaching them skills and tactics to say “NO” to drugs and alcohol. Student teams manoeuvre a remote miniature race car...

04 June, 2018
CARE Course

A team of Doctors, Nurses, and Paramedics made the voyage from British Columbia to Bruce County to run The CARE Course (Comprehensive Approaches to Rural Emergencies). This was the first time in Ontario that this program has been run and Bruce County Paramedic Service partnered with Grey Bruce Health Services to participate in this unique two-day rural emergency medicine program that brought together paramedics, nurses and physicians in a collaborative learning environment. The training is designed for small rural hospitals where...

07 May, 2018
Oxford County Hybrid Ambulance Study

On October 26, 2017 Oxford County became the first municipality in Canada to deploy hybrid ambulances.  However, the journey towards this objective began much, much sooner.  On June 24, 2015, Oxford County council set in motion a plan to rely only on 100% renewable energy sources by 2050, and as such became the first municipality in Ontario to commit to the energy target. With the release of the final draft of the Community Sustainability Plan Oxford positively positioned itself to commit to 100%...

23 April, 2018