Every day, Medavie’s team of more than 8,000 professionals work to improve the wellbeing of Canadians. Join us as they share their stories and show how we deliver on our mission and bring our values to life. These are the people who make Medavie what it is today.

He’s stood sentry as a member of the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. He’s engaged in ground combat as an infantryman in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. And When Medavie Health Services put out the call for paramedics who wanted to use their expertise to meet the ongoing medical needs and emergencies of patients in some of the northernmost reaches of our country, Doug Pamment answered.

For the past two years, Doug has been part of a team of paramedics delivering direct patient care and consultation beyond hospital walls across Northern Canada. Doug assists with local health care programs and provides surge capacity response working alongside First Nations and Inuit Health Branch-employed nurses. They serve approximately 30 rural and remote communities, ranging in size from a couple of hundred people to a couple of thousand.

A different model of health care

“It’s been an amazing experience, every second, in these communities,” Doug says, adding “there’s not a boring day” and “nighttime is magical” in reference to the Northern Lights that often dance across the night sky.

Paramedics like Doug are the boots on the ground of an evolving model of mobile integrated health that is helping to support more Canadians in getting the care they need, when and where they need it.

“In the north, whether you stub your toe or have a heart attack, you come to us. It’s head-to-toe care.”

Doug’s work in the north is slightly different from frontline health care in other parts of Canada. Instead of racing to scenes of emergencies with lights flashing and sirens wailing, Doug and other paramedics work closely with local health professionals at community medical clinics to provide a broad spectrum of family medicine services.

“When the patients come to us, we do our assessments. Right from introducing ourselves to finding out what their allergies are and what their chief complaint is and then we spring into action as best as we can.”

Visit Medavie.ca to read the full story.

Congratulations on raising over $32,000 in support of United Way!

We are proud of our employees who have raised over $32,000 in support of United Way since the launch of Medavie’s annual giving campaign! The money raised will go a long way in making a positive impact in the communities where we live and work.

Join your colleagues in sharing why you give to the United Way…

I give to the United Way because…

You can donate to our United Way giving campaign up until Tuesday, November 29 using United Way’s secure and easy-to-use-donor platform.

We thank you for your contribution to our annual United Way employee-giving campaign!

Every year on November 20^th, we remember and honour the lives and memories of those who lost their lives in acts of anti-transgender violence and discrimination. Transgender Day of Remembrance is an opportunity to come together and remember transgender and gender-non confirming people who have been murdered, often brutally, for challenging ideas about what it means to be male or female or non-binary.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day that acknowledges the current challenges faced by transgender communities and the work that is being done to create a more inclusive environment for all LGBTQ2S+ individuals.

It is an opportunity to pause and remember those who we have lost, to help raise awareness about the persistent stigma and discrimination experienced by the trans community and help do something about it.

Founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to memorialize the death of Rita Hester, a transgender black woman who was brutally killed in Boston, Transgender Day of Remembrance is currently observed annually in over 185 cities and in more than 20 countries across the world.

At Medavie, we are committed in building and sustaining an inclusive culture where everyone can feel like they belong, and we remain committed in ensuring that our benefits are inclusive and accessible for all employees. With our Gender Affirmation Benefit, we have increased access and financial support to all gender diverse employees throughout their transitioning journey.

How you can support the transgender community

• Attend a local vigil or memorial in your community on November 20^th. Vigils are normally hosted by local LGBTQ2S+ organizations, at parks, public buildings, houses of worship and other venues.
• Normalizing the usage of pronouns and show your advocacy for LGBTQIA+ individuals. It takes some practice to transform the unfamiliar into the familiar. At first, it might be awkward to share pronouns when you meet someone, but after a while, you probably won’t even hear it.
• Advocate for the transgender community by challenging transphobic comments and behaviours as well as racism, and other forms of violence towards trans people.
• Amplify the voice of the trans community. Help raise awareness of the challenges and barriers the trans community face and promote ways to support our trans employees.

We encourage you to take a moment to learn more about trans communities and help promote an inclusive environment for all.

With the final week of our 2022 United Way Employee Giving Campaign underway, we are proud to have raised over $20,000 so far! Our employees, and colleagues, from across Canada have come together to support local communities.

Pictured below (left) is one of our furry team members, next to members of our Medavie Health Services management team!

Thank you for your continued support. Let’s continue to make an impact in our communities by supporting United Way. Please donate by using United Way’s secure and easy-to-use-donor platform.

National Indigenous Veterans Day is a Canadian Memorial Day observed on November 8 to acknowledge and recognize the many contributions and sacrifices made by the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people in military service.

Today, we remember and honour the estimated 12,000 Indigenous people who served in both World Wars and the Korean War. We also acknowledge the challenges faced by survivors, who when they returned home, were denied benefits and support, and experienced loss of land and rights.

Indigenous people were not eligible to be drafted into forced military service because they were not recognized as citizens of Canada, but many volunteered despite the challenges, including travelling great distances to enlist, learning English, and coping with cultural differences and racism.

National Indigenous Veterans Day began in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1994 in response to Indigenous veterans not being recognized as part of Remembrance Day activities. It was only in 1995 that Indigenous veterans and their families were allowed to lay wreaths to remember their fallen at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Here are some facts you may not know about the contributions of Indigenous Veterans in Canada.

We must never forget the sacrifices and accomplishments of Indigenous veterans especially as we move forward in our journey of healing and reconciliation. We thank Indigenous veterans and the current Indigenous people in service.

As part of our mission to improve the wellbeing of Canadians and further strengthen system capacity across PEI, Island EMS (IEMS) is introducing dedicated ambulance transfer units to its fleet.

The new ambulance transfer units will allow low acuity, non-urgent or scheduled requests by using vehicles staffed by a paramedic and assisted by a driver with basic first aid and medical responder training. The four new transfer units will help alleviate pressure on the IEMS ground ambulance system and free up other ambulances to respond to emergency situations. 

The ambulance transfer units will not respond to emergency calls and will only be used in non-emergency situations of patient transfer, such as moves to and from health facilities. Health PEI estimates that up to 60 per cent of patients per week could be transferred between health facilities using the new class of ambulance dedicated for patient transfers. 

The service will begin using existing ambulance vehicles and will transition to vehicles specifically for these services in the future. It will consist of two units operating five days a week and two units operating seven days a week.

“At Island EMS, our purpose is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our patients and their families through the delivery of high-quality care,” said James Orchard, General Manager of Island EMS. “By adding these additional resources, we believe this collaboration will bring positive changes by reducing pressure within our health care system and allow our skilled paramedics to focus on emergency response.”

Here’s how it works

Purchase a $20 ticket, $10 goes towards United Way and $10 goes into the gift card pot. Draws will start this week until Thursday, November 24^th.

In each draw, several names will be drawn out of the pot, if your name is drawn, you will be eliminated off the Island. However, for $5, you can choose to purchase immunity to buy back onto the island and have the opportunity to be the final survivor. You will only be allowed to purchase immunity up to three times, no buybacks are allowed to be purchased on the last day (November 25^th).

If you choose to participate, you will be invited to a brief meeting every few days to witness the eliminations. The eliminated participants will be notified via email.

The final survivor and winner of gift card pot will be announced on Friday, November 25^th. The winner will have the opportunity to select a gift card of their choice. The last five survivors will receive $100 gift cards to spend on the Medavie Boutique.

You can participate as many times as you like, but you must purchase a $20 ticket for every single entry.

Form an Alliance!

You can increase your chances of taking home the gift card pot by forming an alliance! As long as one person in your alliance is the final survivor, your alliance can split the gifts card winnings with you or the team.  Forming an alliance is totally up to you.

If you have any questions, please contact us via email. Thanks for supporting United Way through your participation and donations.

Purchase your ticket today!

A collaboration between the Government of New Brunswick and Medavie Health Services New Brunswick is giving those in the province without a family doctor a new path to accessing care.

NB Health Link provides New Brunswickers with access to primary care while they wait for a longer-term placement with a family physician or nurse practitioner. Each patient is supported by a centralized health record that follows them with each of their appointments.

Launched over the summer in the Moncton region, NB Health Link is an important step forward at a time when thousands of New Brunswick patients are currently waiting for access to a family doctor.

Once registered for the program, patients are able to book appointments in-person, online or by phone, in the official language of their choice. They’re connected with a network of family doctors and nurse practitioners who can treat many common medical conditions, prescribe medications, order tests and make referrals for specialized care.

Already, the program is showing strong results. To date, of the more than 19,600 people contacted, more than 68 per cent have been reached. Of those reached, 53 per cent said they did not have a doctor and registered for NB Health Link, while 32 per cent indicated that they now have a doctor.         

The NB Health Link model will be adapted and scaled to meet the different needs of communities across the province. Clinics in other regions are scheduled to open over the course of the coming months. The next phase will focus on the Fredericton region, followed by the Campbellton region.

Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do within Medavie Health Services. As we recognize Canadian Patient Safety Week this week, we want to recognize those MHS employees who consistently provide exemplary patient care, are focused on improving our patient experience and who seek out potential hazards or provide solutions to reduce risk to our patients.They are our MHS Patient Safety Champions and, as we do each year, we want to thank each of them for going above and beyond when it comes to keeping our patients and communities safe.

All of our Patient Safety Champions are being personally recognized this week and some will be profiled on our MHS Facebook page. We hope you’ll join us in congratulating all of them for making patient safety a priority in everything they do. Our 2022 Patient Safety Champions are:

EHS Operations

Mike Janczyszyn	Advanced Care Paramedic
Laura Mathers	Primary Care Paramedic
Eric Murphy	Advanced Care Paramedic
Wanda Croft	Primary Care Paramedic
Doug Allen	Advanced Care Paramedic
Emily Harris	Primary Care Paramedic
Dane Huntley	Primary Care Paramedic
Peter Trites	Primary Care Paramedic
Bryden Fitzgerald	Primary Care Paramedic
Jacob Newman	Primary Care Paramedic
Eric Poll	Advanced Care Paramedic
Jenny Jaynes	Advanced Care Paramedic
Matt MacAulay	Advanced Care Paramedic
Brooke Martin	Registered Nurse
Shane Spicer	Transport Operator
EHS Integrated Health Programs Team

EM/ANB

Andrew McLean	Primary Care Paramedic
Jennifer O’Neill	Primary Care Paramedic
Tracey Hanson-Kirkpatrick	Primary Care Paramedic
Jimmy Thibodeau	Primary Care Paramedic
John Nicholson	Operations Manager
Velma Bouchard	Registered Nurse

Chatham-Kent EMS

Paul Tremblay	Primary Care Paramedic
Sarah Parr	Primary Care Paramedic
Mike Stinson	Community Paramedic

Perth County Paramedic Services

Kyle LeSouder	Primary Care Paramedic
Andrew Lucas	Primary Care Paramedic

Elgin EMS

Kyla Van Rijn

Primary Care Paramedic

MHS West

Angela Sereda	Advanced Care Paramedic
Taylor Poirier	Advanced Care Paramedic
Emily Mireles	Advanced Care Paramedic
Jacob Vanderneut	Primary Care Paramedic
Robyn Bayliss	Primary Care Paramedic
Alyssa Bechtold	Advanced Care Paramedic
Crystal Bloss	Advanced Care Paramedic
Jeremy Mackinnon	Advanced Care Paramedic
Ashley Keogh	Advanced Care Paramedic
Tracy Sherk	Primary Care Paramedic
Spencer Wold	Primary Care Paramedic

Island EMS

Corina Anderson	Primary Care Paramedic
Carlos Camacho-Munoz	Primary Care Paramedic
Kelly Williams	Senior Operations Paramedic
Cortney Crowell	Primary Care Paramedic

Congratulations on your well-deserved recognition!

Medavie employees (Medavie Health Services) joined all Canadians on September 30 to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We showed our allyship by wearing Orange in support for the reconciliation process with Indigenous communities.

Thank you all for choosing to honour the children who were sent away to schools and never made it home, the survivors, the families, and the communities.