IERHA gets two clinical service leaders with advanced care paramedic training
After having no opportunity work as advanced care paramedics (ACPs) in rural Manitoba under the previous provincial government, primary care paramedics in rural and northern health regions can now work their way up the career ladder and earn a higher salary in the Interlake and other rural and remote regions of the province.
The Manitoba NDP government is allowing rural paramedics to work at a higher level of paramedical practice after consulting with paramedics and the unions representing them, and taking steps to address the critical shortfall and retention of paramedics in rural regions.
The ACPs, who are referred to as clinical service leaders, come in addition to the government’s efforts to recruit paramedics to rural and northern regions.
In total 14 ACP-trained clinical service leaders are being stationed across seven locations in rural and northern Manitoba. Two clinical service leaders/ACPs are now working in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority – one in Ashern and one in Lac du Bonnet.
Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara said expanding the scope of paramedicine in rural areas with strategically placed ACPs will provide patients with “more definitive pre-hospital” care.
“We’re expanding the scope of paramedicine in the province, starting with clinical service leaders stationed in communities throughout rural and northern Manitoba,” said Asagwara in an April 9 news release. “The previous government denied paramedics the opportunity to enhance their training outside of Winnipeg. This is one step we’re taking to ensure that when there’s an emergency, a trained health-care professional can respond on site as quickly as possible.”
One clinical service leader/ACP said they’ll be able to provide a type of care people would receive in an emergency room.
“This is an exciting time to be a paramedic in rural Manitoba,” said Bryan Collier in the news release. “We’ve seen the needs of the public continue to grow, so having a higher scope of care and the ability to provide the type of care people would receive in an emergency room to our communities is vitally important.”
The clinical service leaders/ACPs are the first paramedics under Shared Health to practise at the advanced level. Rural paramedics are Shared Health employees.
In addition to having two clinical service leaders/ACPs in communities in the Interlake-Eastern RHA, the government has placed them in Swan River, Neepawa, Dauphin, Portage la Prairie and Flin Flon.
Clinical service leaders respond to medical emergencies in rapid response vehicles and do not transport patients, said Asagwara. But their advanced training and skills provide people with more definitive pre-hospital care on the scene.
Shared Health, an organization created by the previous provincial Conservative government, oversees rural and northern paramedics and patient transport, among other responsibilities.
Scott Noble, Shared Health’s executive director of emergency medical services operations, said the introduction of ACPs in rural Manitoba will provide people in less populated regions of the province with enhanced care.
“The introduction of ACPs in rural Manitoba is a very exciting initiative that provides patients in more remote and less populated parts of the province with enhanced care before they get to a hospital, while helping our emergency response system to be more nimble and responsive at the same time,” said Noble in the news release. “Equally important is that this initiative supports paramedics who have told us about their long-standing desire to practise at this level and to have better opportunities for career advancement.”
Other health-care news:
-Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care is offering a spring COVID-19 vaccination program that will run from May 1 to June 30.
“The spring program is timed to provide the best protection to Manitobans at highest risk of serious COVID-19 outcomes during the summer months when COVID-19 circulation may increase,” states the health department in an April 16 news release.
The targeted program is being offered to adults 65 years of age and older, Indigenous people 45 years of age and older regardless of their place of residence, adult residents of long-term care homes and other congregate living settings for seniors, as well as to individuals six months of age and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised due to an underlying condition or treatment.
The COVID-19 vaccine is available free of charge from medical clinics, pharmacies, nursing stations and rural public health offices. For help locating a vaccine provider, call the provincial call centre at 1-844-626-8222 Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
-As of April 7, there have been four probable cases of measles identified in Manitoba, according to the province’s website.
In 2025 (as of April 5), Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec have reported a total of 880 measles cases, according to Health Canada.
-Health Canada issued a recall on April 19 for Sweet Cream brand and D. Effe T. brand frozen pastries due to possible salmonella contamination.
There are 10 affected products, which are listed by name, codes and UPC on Health Canada’s Alerts and Recalls website.
The products were sold in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and possibly other provinces and territories.
The products may have also been sold “clerk-served or in smaller packages with or without a label that may not bear the same brand, product name or lot number.”
