Number of firefighters who can respond to medical calls doubles in 2 Manitoba municipalities under new rules
CBC
The number of firefighters able to respond to medical calls has doubled in two southeast Manitoba municipalities.
That's because of new rules that no longer require them to have a provincial emergency medical responder licence, which takes 320 hours of training and thousands of dollars to earn.
Under the new model, departments can apply to the provincial Shared Health agency to allow firefighters with the shorter advanced firefighter first aid training to respond to medical calls.
As of March 1, volunteer firefighters with the Niverville and Emerson-Franklin fire departments with that training can respond to medical calls.
"We have a bunch of people that work shift work that handle a lot of these calls, so there [were] gaps sometimes in our ability to respond," said Niverville fire Chief Keith Bueckert.
"But now we feel that we filled those gaps, and we're able to continue on with this program as the community grows."
Niverville was the first to apply in February to Shared Health to use the advanced firefighter first aid program, Bueckert said.
Emergency medical responder training required by the province increased to 320 hours from 120 hours in 2022.
The new first aid training is "basically the old EMR program from about 15 years ago. So they're still getting all the training that's required for them to do stuff for trauma emergencies [and] medical emergencies," said Bueckert.
The 40-person Niverville department went from having 14 qualified medical responders to 28 after the change.
Under the new model, firefighters who want to give medicines like aspirin or administer EpiPens have to first first call the Virtual Emergency Care and Transfer Resource Service, or VECTRS — a centralized provincial service that offers clinical guidance and patient transport support.
Shared Health says this is the first time firefighters can directly call VECTRS, which was launched in 2023 to support health-care staff.
Having that service, combined with 120 hours of advanced first aid training, means Niverville firefighters are ready to help while ambulances based in other communities are on their way, Bueckert said.
"We can administer [the anti-overdose medication] Narcan, oxygen, defibrillation — we can even deliver babies," he said.
The Swale Watchers plan to keep watching.
In a smaller city like Prince Albert, Ramadan can feel different.
About 125 people came out for a town hall meeting on health care in Charlottetown Monday night.
This is the second of two-part CBC News report on Taser use by Edmonton police. To read the previous story, click here.
A Merritt, B.C., father is urging parents to be on the lookout for ticks while the weather warms up, after his six-year-old son was partially paralyzed by a tick bite last week.
About that heartbreaking loss to the U.S. at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey final last month, Sarah Nurse says, “that was the most fun I’ve had in a hockey game in a very long time.”
The U.S. government on Monday said electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla and South Korea's LG Energy Solution had signed a supply agreement to build a $4.3 billion lithium iron phosphate (LFP) prismatic battery cell manufacturing facility in Lansing, Mich., with an expected production launch in 2027.
In one small town in Alberta, the assistant principal says teachers almost never meet alone with parents anymore.
Tens of thousands of customers are without power and four parts of Highway 401 are closed Tuesday morning as blasts of blowing snow hit the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
Melody Macsemchuk says volunteers at Grace Place in Thunder Bay, Ont., serve between 300 and 350 meals a day.
Groups of volunteers continue to search alongside police for a man who went missing in late January near Owen Sound, Ont., covering land on foot, and using drones for a view of the conservation area where his car was found.
Jessica Hay says her daughter Charlie loves to be included in everything — and a new accessible shopping cart at her local grocery store in Cornwall makes it possible for Charlie to come along for the ride.
The N.W.T. cabinet says it will review whether or not the territory needs an independent child and youth advocate after a motion by Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart calling on it to establish such a position was carried in the legislative assembly.