Province will spend $6.5M to keep paramedic, EMT graduates in N.B.
CBC
The province has announced a $6.5-million bursary program for paramedic and emergency medical technician students that train in New Brunswick and commit to working in the province.
The program will be available to current and future students until March 2026.
To be eligible, paramedics must sign a two-year agreement and emergency medical technicians will need to sign a one-year agreement.
Students will then be reimbursed in two payments — the first when they finish school and the second when they complete their "return-of-service" agreement.
Craig Dalton, the CEO of EM/ANB Inc., previously known as Ambulance New Brunswick, said the funding will address current staffing shortages and, in turn, reduce the pressure on staff.
"The reality of serving today … is that doing what they do in a system that has been beset with staffing shortages is a challenge and it takes a toll," Dalton said.
The funding will cover the full cost of training for 273 paramedics and 39 EMT students. Of the paramedics, 75 are currently enrolled and up to 198 would start training in the 2025-26 academic year.
Health Minister John Dornan said the province is "down by about 200" staff and this recruitment effort will help create a "more comfortable working environment."
"We need to have more paramedics and EMTs on the road and this initiative will help ensure there's a pipeline of trained professionals training here to help fulfil current and future vacancies," Dornan said.
Dalton said staffing struggles are "like any other health-care profession."
"It's been that way for five plus years. So, it's a challenge to get that very small group of talent, and this is a huge tool in our toolbox to be able to do that," he said.
Dornan said the role of paramedics is evolving, and the services they provide continue to expand.
"It's tougher to be a paramedic today than it was 20 years ago," said Dornan, a doctor and former Horizon Health CEO.
He said paramedics are able to put tubes into people's lungs and defibrillate patients in the ambulance. He said the province is also working to allow paramedics to give "clot busters" in the ambulance to help people survive heart attacks.
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.
A memorial to remember lives lost to gender-based violence was held in Charlottetown Friday, ahead of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, which is marked annually on Dec. 6.
A Calgary dentist who defrauded five insurance companies over a decade should spend up to three years in prison, the prosecution argued Friday.