A new pilot project aims to improve access to emergency medical care in rural areas of the province.
Benoit Bourque, New Brunswick’s health minister, says new paramedics will be bilingual, despite recruitment challenges that have come with that policy.
Specially-equipped vehicles will allow a single paramedic to respond to an emergency and begin treatment when ambulances are dealing with high volumes.
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Units are equipped with much of the same life-saving equipment ambulances offer, but do not transport patients.
The rapid response pilot project will roll out in five rural regions throughout the province.
Ambulance New Brunswick has struggled to fill positions, in part because of language requirements.
The health minister says despite the staffing challenges, the hiring policy will apply to the new positions.
“When it comes to language, we have to follow the official languages act and there will be positions that will have to be bilingual,” Bourque said.
Richard Losier, EM/ANB Inc. CEO, says measures have been taken to deal with staffing, and progress has been made.
“We have four colleges that have an output now, so that’s going to help tremendously down the road, and we’re recruiting outside as much as we can from the island and other provinces,” says Losier.
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Concerning the pilot project, Losier says it’s designed after a model employed in Prince Edward Island.
The initial annual budget for the project is roughly $1 million.
The health minister says the vehicles still need to be ordered and the positions filled, but he hopes to have the project off the ground in two to three months.
Bourque says it’ll likely be a year or two before a decision is made to expand the project to other parts of the province.