BY ELYSE AMEND
elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca
While autumn may seem far off, John Abbott College (JAC) in Ste. Anne de Bellevue is in the midst of preparing its new pre-hospital emergency care program for the Fall 2008 semester, and the CEGEP’s director general, Keith W. Henderson, says interest is mounting quickly.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in the program. We expect it will be a program that’s going to attract a lot of applicants, almost to the level of police technology, where we get six, seven, eight applicants for each seat,” Henderson said.
Like Abbott’s police technology course, pre-hospital emergency care will be a three-year career program that will teach students competencies for a variety of different career opportunities, such as emergency response, emergency communication, and medical supply sales.
“In developing the program, we’re also looking at a fairly broad range of applications. They’ll be able to work in a variety of settings,” said Erich Schmedt, the dean of science and related technologies at JAC. “We’re looking at a fairly broad spectrum in terms of using different kinds of equipment, so if they decided to work in a more rural setting or the military, or for federal agencies and so on, they’ll get a broad palette of applications of their skills.”
Henderson said Quebec gave the college the thumbs up for the program in October 2007, the same time the education minister signed off on JAC’s new 10,000 square-metre science and technology building, scheduled to be complete in 2010. JAC will be the third CEGEP in the province to offer the program – along with College Ahuntsic and College Ste. Foy – and the first to offer it in English. With a shortage of paramedics in the Montreal region and other parts of the province, Henderson said pre-hospital emergency care was a good choice for the school.
“Out of the programs that interested us, this was one, because we wanted to specialize in a niche of life sciences,” Henderson said. “It was a new niche that was available, and we were poised to offer a new program with the new building.”
But, with at least two more years to go until the new building is ready, the college will only be admitting 40 students in the first cohort so they will be able to accommodate them in existing infrastructure.
“I think 40 is a good number. I think we’d like to err on the side of caution and not start off too big and develop a good program with that intimacy and build from there,” said Schmedt.
The program is planned to be very hands on, including student internships aboard ambulances and in hospitals. According to Schmedt, the college has been in communication with Urgences Santé. As a matter of fact, he said the organization was “proactive’ and contacted them to find out more about the program. “The collaboration is encouraging,” he said.
During an information session in January, Schmedt said people from all walks of life showed interest.
“We saw kids interested from high school, we saw first responders, mature students with backgrounds in the health care field, we saw people with degrees in health sciences who want a practical application of what they’ve learned,” Schmedt said. “So, there will be quite a variety. And, it will probably be quite competitive, initially.”
For more information on the pre-hospital emergency care program, visit JAC’s website at
www.johnabbott.qc.ca. There will also be an open house and information session next Wednesday, Feb. 6, and the college.
Météo: Montréal, 4 juillet 2008 / 21°C
/ Quelques nuages
/ Vents: 17 Km/h / Humidité relative: 69 % 
par Elyse Amend 
Steven Guilbeault - 
Caution with words
Jonathan TragerArticle mis en ligne le 31 janvier 2008
Quebec does NOT have paramedics as the common definition of the word goes. A paramedic in the Emergency Medical Services lingo means a person trained to provide Advanced Life Support, namely medications and defibrillation and intubation to mitigate life threatening emergencies. Canada has 3 recognized levels of "paramedics", defined as those who work under a licensed medical professional (a physician) as support; an extender of services if you will. The highest level of paramedic in Canada is that of a critical care provider and the lowest level is equivalent to the Emergency Medical Technician- Basic in the United States, trained to provide basic life support; i.e. usually only 5 basic medications. To go a step further, Quebec does not follow the Canadian Medical Association or the US Emergency Medical Technician levels and only provides certification for First Rresponders and "Ambulance Technicians", who are now finally, after many years and many more hours of education ( 800 hours when compared to the 120 hours of US training for Basic level providers)able to provide the 5 basic medications. Make no mistake about it, the Quebec system has a long way to go to provide the prehospital level of care found in the next province and the bordering states. Quebec finally has a private air medical program (Medevac) which has been quite successful and they deserve to be congratulated. I want to end by commending John Abbott College for their insight in creating this program, especially one in English, and wish them all the luck. Hopefully they will lead the way to make the government realize that Quebec really needs "Paramedics" who are trained with advanced skills to save lives and in the meantime, they will train the next generation of EMS providers/ "paramedics" who will save lives and protect the citizens of the Montreal and the surrounding suburbs.