Emergency Health Services

EMC operates a central communications dispatch centre in Burnside Business Park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for coordinating emergency medical services across the province.

EHS leases 150 ambulances through Tri-Star Industries of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. This fleet is procured by the Government of Nova Scotia and managed and operated under contract by Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC). There are 65 strategically located ambulance bases throughout the province, some of which are owned by EHS, others are rented by EMC (e.g. volunteer fire departments).

EHS initiated air ambulance service for Nova Scotia in 1994 in partnership with CHC Helicopter Corporation (CHC) and the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS). STARS operated the service until 2001 when it opted not to renew its agreement with EHS, citing philosophical differences over management and fundraising. EHS operated air ambulance service directly under the new name "LifeFlight" and awarded a long-term operating contract for this service to Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC) in 2008.

The Atlantic Health Training and Simulation Centre is a training facility for emergency medical services personnel such as paramedics. It is located at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.[5]

The medical first response program is a program that responds personnel to a life-threatening emergency situation if they are closer than the paramedics to rapidly stabilize the scene and/or patient(s), to provide relevant medical information to paramedics before they arrive, and to support paramedic care on scene after paramedics arrive. They are not used on every EHS call, only life-threatening calls or on an individual basis as requested by paramedics. Although dominated by the volunteer fire service; first responders can also include police/RCMP, life guards, security guards, etc. Trained personnel are certified as Medical First Responders (MFR)'s. They are able to provide advanced first aid, including oxygen administration, and early defibrillation as required.

The trauma program is to facilitate optimal trauma care by providing education, research leadership in injury prevention and control and trauma system development.

A model of care in Long & Brier Islands where paramedics apply their training and skills in community based environments. Established in 2001, due to a shortage of physician care in the community. Paramedics work in a collaborative environment with a nurse practitioner, delivering quality primary health care services to a remote Nova Scotia community. The Long and Brier model has successfully achieved greater access to primary health care services for the residents of these two islands. Interviews with residents have highlighted personal success stories and satisfaction with the health services provided by the paramedics and NPs. They also noted that their health status has improved, and they expressed satisfaction with the shorter wait times and travel times to obtain access to care. Currently the data collection has shown a 23% decrease in emergency department visits by islanders and an increase in the project’s patient contacts by 250 to 300 during the 2002/2003 fiscal year. Average visits by islanders to Digby facilities decreased by 24% to 28% from 2001 to 2006.[6][7][8][9]

Founded on February 2, 2011, the program involved a team of Advanced Care Paramedics (ASP) who were assigned to a unique ECPs role in the nursing home. These ECP's received specialized training tailored to the needs of nursing home patients. This included geriatric assessment and management and other advanced skills such as suturing. The benefit to CDHA is fewer patients are being transported to their facilities - that means less emergency department congestion, reduced consumption and alignment with their focus on patient-centred care. Additionally, it fees up paramedics on the ambulances to more efficiently and effectively provide emergency patient care for those who need it. After 41 weeks ECPs attended to 599 nursing home calls and 73% patients were treated on site without the need for ambulance transport.[10]

Beginning in July 2011, to address hospital closures and reduce hospital wait time in the emergency departments with the goal of improving emergency department care to Nova Scotians. At these centres Paramedic and Nurses work together with an online EHS medical oversight physician to provide care to patients. The first CEC was opened in Parrsboro and on MArch 24, 2012 a second CEC was opened at All Saints Hospital in Springhill.[11][12][13]

Heart attack patients who are experiencing chest pain and call 911 will receive faster treatment through new training by Advance Care Paramedics. As part of government's Better Care Sooner health plan, the provincial prehospital STEMI Reperfusion Strategy (RESTORE) expanded province wide. This use of prehospital thrombolytics has the potential to significantly reduce the damage to heart muscle caused in a heart attack.

MedicAlert Access—En Route in Nova Scotia allows paramedics to access the MedicAlert emergency health record from ambulances and include it as part of the electronic patient care record. The Siren ePCR software, developed by Medusa Medical Technologies, is used by paramedics to chart the care they provide to patients in the field. Paramedics can now call up a patient's MedicAlert record, to obtain critical data such as allergy, medication, and physician information.

In partnered with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in the "Restart a Heart, Restart a Life" campaign which focused on automated external defibrillator (AED) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training throughout Nova Scotia.[14][15]