ACAP Rural and Remote SIG

Canadian Paramedicine (formerly Canadian Emergency News) is currently working on our special International Issue. We are looking for stories from paramedics in countries other than Canada that focus on system design and education.

If you choose to write, here are a few areas to discuss:

•Education: Provide a description of the education required to become a paramedic in your country. If there are different levels, what distinguishes the different levels.

•Accreditation: Do paramedics require accreditation in your country?
Who sets the accreditation standards and regulates them?

•System Design: Are paramedics located within the fire department, hospital based or are they their own department? Are they public or privatized?

•Additionally, if you know of an innovative systems or ideas that your country’s paramedics have developed, focus on it and tell our readers about it.

Stories in this issue will be not only distributed across Canada to thousands of paramedics, but also online, for the world to see.

Stories should be 1,500-2,000 words in length, and include high resolution photos (300 pixels per inch, at least 1 MB in size).

To submit a query please email cp@emsnews.com

Below is a link to an article related to rural and remote health from the Friends of Science in Medicine that may be of interest to rural paramedics. It seems a pity that we have people embarking on some rather risky and non-evidence based treatment regimes in country towns when there may be well-qualified and experienced paramedics who are under-utilised in the same town. Maybe there is a role for community paramedics who are willing and able to work with medical and nursing professionals?
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/07/21/chiropractors-moving-in-on-gps-turf/

Here is a more publically avalable article on the debate.http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/the-chiro-kids/story-e6frg8h6-1226083401276

Peter O’Meara

One of the benefits of being a member body of the National Rural Health Alliance is that Paramedics Australasia get a seat at the table for this type of national activity. CouncilFest is a four day event that is held each year in Canberra where representatives of NRHA members meet together to determine their collective priorities for rural health, access to senior government staff and talk directly with members of parliament.

Now is a good time to raise any issues or concerns that fit into the big picture of rural health. The broad categories to be discussed include: health reform; rural/remote health institutions and strategy; health workforce; health education and training; the pathwork economy and sustainable communities; e-health and communications; health propmotion and the new agency; and ‘mental, dental and aged care’. From these topics an agenda will be developed to then talk to Members of Parliament as a united voice. While this event is not about us specifically, we can participate in the discussions and make a contribution from our professional perspective. Please let me know if you have any burning issues that might come up at CouncilFest.

I will take the opportunity to follow-up on the recent developments in regard to scholarships for paramedics and  students, In addition, I try and find out more about where we fit into health reform iniatives from the Commonwealth. Watch this space for some reports of how CouncilFest went.

Peter O’Meara

http://ehealthspace.org/content/dr-jenny-may-health-e-conversations-podcast-episode-3

Interview from the eHealthspace.org with Jenny May.

Paramedic students have finally been included in the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme. See link for details. http://www.sarrah.org.au/site/index.cfm?display=276981
Well done to everyone involved in this rather drawn out process! There is still a fair way to go to make sure that paramedics are included in all of the potential schemes. We are still not covered under the clinical placement scheme or the continuing professional development scheme yet, although I am assuming that these changes will flow through. We all need to continue monitoring these issues at a Commonwealth level as well as working at getting all the States and Territories on board.

 Health Workforce Australia (HWA) is inviting people to attend Rural and Remote Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategy consultation workshops across the country. This is a great opportunity for rural and remote paramedics to participate in this exercise. Have an influence on the future!

The Rural and Remote Health Workforce Innovation and Reform (RRHWIR) Strategy aims to provide national guidance on future needs, reforms and initiatives to improve the health care services of those in rural and remote communities.

The resulting RRHWIR Strategy will be a complementary document to Health Workforce Australia’s National Health Workforce Innovation and Reform Strategic Framework for Action and the National Training Plan. It will seek to promote better utilisation of existing workforce, support optimal use of skills and workforce adaptability and build workforce capacity for responding and adapting to changing demands in rural and remote communities.

Register online via the HWA website at www.hwa.gov.au/wir/ruralandremote or ring 08 8212 3841 to participate.

Peter O’Meara

Paramedics have been declared eligible for scholarships under the federal Government’s new Nursing and Allied Health Rural Locum Scheme, which enables nurses, midwives and eligible allied health workers in rural areas to take leave for continuing professional development activities by providing
locum placements to back-fill their positions while they are away. 

The scheme is being administered by Aspen Medical, and more information is available from the scheme website at www.nahrls.com.au.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Anyone like to comment on the recent announcement of a major roll-out of Community Paramedics in WA?

The Federal Government has just announced the establishment of the Rural Tertiary Hardship Fund (the Fund) to reduce barriers faced by rural and regional students, under the age of 25, who would experience financial hardship in undertaking higher education without this assistance.  Applications must be made by March 22, 2011.

The Fund will provide $20 million of financial assistance from January 2011 to June 2013 in addition to the benefits that rural and regional students have available to them under the students’ income support. Financial assistance under the Fund will be available as a one-off single payment to successful applicants. For information on the eligibility requirements, selection criteria and application form, see http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Programs/Funding/RTHF/Pages/default.aspx

Members of this R&R group may be interested in how Community Paramedics are becoming part of mainstream ambulance services across Canada. Here is a news clip about developments in Toronto. It comes compliments of Michael Nolan, President of the EMS Chiefs of Canada.

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/#clip399002 

They plan to feed in more stories to garner community and political support for the concept.

Yesterday’s IRCP call (18th January 2011) by John Klich from Toronto EMS is available for viewing over the internet. Learn how their CREMS program works.

To view it, click here, or go to www.ircp.info, click on Meetings, then Conference Call Registration, then choose January 2011 from the list on the left side.

Peter O’Meara