New Frontenac Paramedics Chief Marc Goudie received his Chief's epaulettes from now-Chief Emerita Gale Chevalier, September 27. Chief Goudie officially assumes the role of Frontenac Paramedics Chief / Director of Emergency and Transportation Services County of Frontenac today, September 30.

Click here to read more about Chief Goudie.

Click here to follow Chief Goudie on X.

It was all part of a group of ceremonies held in Kingston, September 27.

Frontenac Paramedics Chief Emerita Gale Chevalier made her ceremonial last call at the same ceremony.

Supt. Jeremie Hurtubise, who assumes the role of Deputy Chief of Performance Standards, recieved his Deputy Chief's epaulettes from Chief Goudie that same day.

Shauna Dunn officially recieved her Superintendent epaulettes from DC Hurtubise, too, as she assumes the role of Superintendent - Performance Standards.

ORH Senior Consultant Hannah Mayes-Frennett delivered an update to the 2019 ORH 10-year Paramedic Human Resources and Facilities Master Plan for Frontenac Paramedics to Frontenac County Council, September 18.

An update to the 2019 10-year report was necessary to adapt it to new and unexpected changes over the last five years in call volumes, unit hour utilization (UHU) figures, response times, and optimal locations for future paramedic stations. The report will be used to inform Frontenac County Council budget decisions.

Click here to read the updated ORH report.

Click here to read the 2019 ORH 10-year Paramedic Human Resources and Facilities Master Plan.

And watch video Mayes-Frennett's report to Council below.

Jeremie Hurtubise, Frontenac Paramedics Superintendent of Performance Standards, will assume the role of Deputy Chief of Performance Standards on September 30.

Frontenac Paramedics Deputy Chief of Performance Standards, Jeremie Hurtubise.Supt. Hurtubise is an advanced care paramedic who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position.

He is involved with Frontenac Paramedics Peer Support Team, serves as a student preceptor, and onboards new Frontenac Paramedics staff. He is a Regional Paramedic Program for Eastern Ontario (RPPEO) facilitator, and a Canadian College of Health Leaders-certified LEADS specialist.

Supt. Hurtubise will soon complete requirements for his Master of Arts in Leadership (Health Specialization) at Royal Roads University.

Supt. Hurtubise becomes Deputy Chief as current Deputy Chief Marc Goudie assumes the role of Paramedic Chief, and as current Paramedic Chief Gale Chevalier retires after more than 30 years of service.

www.FrontenacParamedics.ca

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www.FrontenacCounty.ca

GLENBURNIE, ON – Marc Goudie, Frontenac Paramedics Deputy Chief of Performance Standards, has been appointed Paramedic Chief/Director, Emergency and Transportation Services for the County of Frontenac effective September 30, 2024.

“DC Goudie is eminently qualified, experienced, and equipped to lead Frontenac Paramedics into this next chapter as Chief,” says Frontenac County CAO Kevin Farrell. “He is already a great asset to Frontenac Paramedics and Frontenac County. I look forward to working with him into the future and extend my congratulations to him on this next step in his career.”

DC Goudie holds a Master of Health Management from the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University; a Master of Arts, Disaster and Emergency Management from Royal Roads University; a Bachelor of Education, Adult Education, from Brock University; and a Bachelor of Social Sciences, Sociology, from the University of Ottawa.

Marc Goudie, Deputy Chief of Performance Standards, Frontenac Paramedics, will assume the role of Paramedic Chief September 30.

He began his career as a Primary Care Paramedic, and achieved Advanced Care Paramedic credentials. He has worked previously as a Facilitator with the Regional Paramedic Program for Eastern Ontario, and a Professor of the Primary Care Paramedic Program at St. Lawrence College.

DC Goudie served part-time as a Superintendent/Supervisor with Frontenac Paramedics and Leeds and Grenville Paramedic Services before assuming his current role with Frontenac Paramedics in 2018. He is also an Inspector on the Ambulance Service Review Team with the Ontario Ministry of Health.

DC Goudie succeeds current Chief Gale Chevalier, who will retire after more than 30 years in paramedicine in Kingston.

“Lifelong learning is increasingly integral to our evolving profession and DC Goudie has strong aptitude and skill as a student, facilitator, instructor, and teacher,” says Chief Chevalier. “Those qualities make him extremely valuable to the Frontenac Paramedics leadership team as is evidenced by his leadership of the Community Paramedicine Program so far. DC Goudie is well equipped to be Chief, and I know I’ll be leaving Frontenac Paramedics in capable hands.”

www.FrontenacParamedics.ca
www.FrontenacCounty.ca
www.engagefrontenac.ca/frontenac-paramedics

Elected officials, Frontenac Paramedics, emergency system partners, Frontenac County staff, and friends gathered in Glenburnie this morning to officially open the new Glenburnie Frontenac Paramedics base.

“It takes years of planning, cooperation, and commitment among funding partners and organizers to bring a new paramedics base to fruition,” says Frances Smith, Warden of Frontenac County. “This new building is a significant step toward equipping Frontenac Paramedics to serve the residents of Frontenac County and Kingston into the future.”

The opening event included remarks from Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP John Jordan, Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu, Parliamentary Assistant to MP Mark Gerretsen Molly Brant, City of Kingston Councillor Conny Glenn, Warden Smith, Frontenac County CAO Kevin Farrell, and Frontenac Paramedics Chief Gale Chevalier.

There was an inaugural flag raising, ribbon cutting, and ceremonial Frontenac Paramedics first call followed by tours of the new base and a reception.

Pictured are Parliamentary Assistant to MP Mark Gerretsen Molly Brant, Kingston and the Islands MPP Ted Hsu, Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP John Jordan, Frontenac County Councillor Ray Leonard, Frontenac County Councillor Fred Fowler, Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith, Frontenac County Deputy Warden Ron Vandewal, Frontenac Paramedics Chief Gale Chevalier. Frontenac County Councillor Gerry Lichty, City of Kingston Councillor Conny Glenn, Frontenac County Councillor Bill Saunders, Frontenac County CAO Kevin Farrell, Frontenac County staff Brieanna McEathron.

“Finding the financial resources, the land, and political support from all levels of government to then actually build a paramedics base is no joke,” says Frontenac Paramedics Chief Gale Chevalier. “As a project, it’s very hard work with many moving parts and constantly shifting priorities. We still have a lot of work to do to properly equip paramedics in Frontenac and across Eastern Ontario for the future.”

The new two-bay station, located at 2129 Battersea Rd. in Glenburnie, allows Frontenac Paramedics to accommodate more ambulances and on-duty paramedics as demand for emergency medical service continues to grow in our region. The new station, located five minutes north of the Montreal St exit at Highway 401, will primarily serve the Rideau Heights and Montreal St. areas of Kingston, the Highway 401 corridor, and rapidly developing areas of the Township of South Frontenac.

The new Glenburnie Frontenac Paramedics base was officially opened and activated, July 5.

Learn more about Frontenac Paramedics’ Plan for the Future.

For the final day of Paramedic Services Week we celebrate the friends, family, and personal relations among professional paramedics. These are the people who support individual paramedics and their work everywhere. They, perhaps more than any other factor, help us help you.

Colleagues, friends, and family of Frontenac Paramedic Michael Pasch on the occasion of his last call after more than 30 years in paramedicine, May 2023. Paramedicine is a challenging and rewarding career but it can come with higher than baseline rates of burnout and post-traumatic stress. Frontenac Paramedics, like most paramedic services, provide multiple formal supports for emotional- and mental-health hygiene and treatment among paramedics but experience, intuition, and research shows what a strong effect social support has on mental health.

Frontenac Paramedics DCs Dean and Marc pay a social visit with Kate, Maggie, Pat, and Rosie - the Joslin family - after Maggie and Rosie dressed as an ambulance with paramedic and a doctor for Halloween, November 2022.

The informal support and validation that comes from positive familial relationships, friendships, personal and professional partnerships, and interpersonal connections built through outside interests make all the difference.

Supt. van Hartingsveldt at the barbershop with Frontenac Paramedics friends and colleagues after donating his moustache of more than 30 years to a charitable cause, December 2021.

Friends and colleagues from Frontenac Paramedics, Kingston Central Ambulance Communications Centre, Kingston Police, and more at the Kingston Emergency Services Ride for Pride, June 2023.

Frontenac Paramedics and their families in the Walk to End ALS, June 2021.

So, you see, everyone - paramedics and otherwise - who supports each individual paramedic whether they know it or not, helps us help you.

Three-year-old Jude Leyton rests in hospital after returning to his family from three-and-a-half days lost and alone in South Frontenac, April 2021.

Today in Paramedic Services Week we cover the wider community of emergency medical care and response colleagues who help us help you. Frontenac Paramedics are an important part of a province-wide coordinated and integrated emergency response and healthcare system. Although this week is about paramedics, we rely on a wide array of system partners, and they rely on us.

Consider this: When you dial 911 for medical emergency, the call is answered by our colleagues at the Kingston Central Ambulance Communications Centre (CACC). They collect information and dispatch Frontenac Paramedics crews to the scene.

Kingston Central Ambulance Communications Centre Communications Officers answer 911 calls for medical emergency and alert and dispatch paramedics. In Ontario, the closest available paramedic crew to any given emergency is alerted by CACC and moves toward the scene. This means that if a Frontenac Paramedics crew happens to be the closest available to an emergency medical call in a neighbouring jurisdiction, they will respond. Similarly, if there’s a large emergency with many patients needing simultaneous care or otherwise a very high demand for emergency medical service here in Frontenac, paramedic crews from neighbouring services may respond.

Frontenac Paramedics’ home jurisdiction for example borders those of Lennox-Addington Paramedic Services, County of Renfrew Paramedic Service, Lanark County Paramedic Service, and Leeds & Grenville Paramedic Service.

Kingston Health Science Centre (KHSC) is Frontenac Paramedics’ base hospital and the lead trauma hospital for South East Ontario. Frontenac Paramedics treat patients under the medical authority and oversight of KHSC medical staff. Paramedics rely on nurses and emergency physicians to receive patients in the emergency department at Kingston General Hospital so paramedics can get back on the road. Paramedic services from across the region regularly treat and transport patients to KHSC in Kingston.

Ambulances from Lanark, Frontenac Paramedics, and Leeds & Grenville at the emergency department area at Kingston General Hospital.
When time is of the essence, the most critically ill of Frontenac Paramedics’ patients may be treated and transported by our paramedic colleagues at Ornge Air Ambulance.

If a patient is in a difficult-to-reach area, requires extraction, or is reported to be unconscious, fire and rescue teams from Kingston Fire and Rescue, South Frontenac Fire and Rescue, Central Frontenac Fire and Rescue, North Frontenac Fire Department, Wolfe Island Fire and Rescue, Howe Island Fire and Rescue, or any other nearby fire departments are dispatched as well.

Members of East Region Ontario Provincial Police and Kingston Police play a critical role in protecting paramedics’ safety while on the road and on scene, securing the area, managing any road traffic or crowds, and conducting any subsequent criminal investigation. Tactical paramedics may also be embedded with police during high-risk law enforcement and crisis activities.

Those above are just a few system partners among the too many to mention here that help us help you. County, city, and township officials; military and Coast Guard; personnel at large institutions and organizations across the region; social service providers; and many more may be involved.

And finally and perhaps most importantly, you and every private citizen helps us help you by knowing CPR and some first aid, how and when to call 911, what to do when you see paramedics on the road, how to prepare your patient for when paramedics arrive, and ultimately by managing your own risks and looking out for your family, friends, neighbours, and strangers.

Today in Paramedic Services week is Canadian Paramedicine Research Day when we draw attention to scientific research involving and affecting paramedics. DYK that Frontenac Paramedics participate in various academic studies in collaboration with researchers and other paramedic services?

It’s all aimed at expanding human understanding of emergency medical response and the profession of paramedicine. It ensures that paramedics continually operate at or above the contemporary professional standard and that the patients we treat receive the very best possible care and best chance of recovery.

Just a few current and recent examples:

The Neighbours Saving Neighbours volunteer responder for cardiac arrest pilot program study. (Queen’s University Faculty of Health Sciences)

Frontenac Paramedics leadership, Dr. Steven Brooks, Vlad Latiu, and Central Ambulance Communications Centre leadership at the NSN launch event, 1 September 2023.

External Violence Against Paramedics (EVAP) project (Violence in Paramedicine Research Group)

Frontenac Paramedics anti-violence against paramedics campaign, 2023.

Prehospital Palliative Care Project at Home study (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute)

Prehospital Analgesia in Adults using Inhaled Methoxyflurane Study (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute).

#CanPRD #SPUCan #ParamedicServicesWeek #HelpUsHelpYou Kingston Health Sciences Centre Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs Paramedic Chiefs of Canada

Today for #ParamedicServicesWeek, we highlight the education and outreach work that paramedics do every day among each other and for the public. This work is all about preparation, harm reduction, and prevention.

Just a few examples here: This week, Frontenac Paramedics are onboarding a healthy cohort of new recruits. Some of them have experience with other paramedic services, others are freshly graduated. They’re being trained and checked-out on their ambulance driving skills and autonomous IV procedures among the education work they’re required to complete before they’re certified to work.

New Frontenac Paramedics recruits are checked-out on safe ambulance-handling skills, May 21.

Frontenac Paramedics lead autonomous IV training for new recruits, May 21. On the public-facing side, Paramedics visit classes of students of all ages to teach about careers in paramedicine. They oversee training and certification for public programs like the Neighbours Saving Neighbours program for cardiac arrest. They maintain a continual presence at the Consumption and Treatment Site for those who may be living with substance-use or other medical disorders. They conduct public service campaigns advising patients how and when to best access emergency medical services. And much, much more.

Frontenac Paramedics liaise with students in all programs of all ages from kindergarten to these Queen's Health Sciences students we visited on April 6, 2024.

Frontenac Paramedics teach CPR and proper AED use to Neighbours Saving Neighbours volunteer responders on May 9, 2023.

Frontenac Paramedics maintain an ongoing presence at the Consumption and Treatment Site in Kingston to provide treatment, guidance, and support for those living with substance-use or other medical disorders.

Frontenac Paramedics run ongoing public service and awareness campaigns to help people access the right social and medical services at the right times and to preserve emergency medical capacity for those who need it most.

An injury avoided, the right treatment and first-aid applied at the right time, and teaching people about how best to prepare for emergencies that hopefully never happen can and does save lives. It's one of the best ways you can #HelpUsHelpYou.

Today for Paramedic Services Week we cover Community Paramedicine. Frontenac Paramedics pioneered the Community Paramedicine program in our region as early as 2014. The program has expanded greatly here and across the province since then. There are some great advantages to it including alternative career pathways for working paramedics, ways for paramedics to build deeper and more enduring relationships with patients, demand relief on emergency medical capacity, and similar demand relief for long-term care home beds. But perhaps the biggest advantages of Community Paramedicine are for our clients. You don’t have to take our word for it . . .

Click here to learn more about Community Paramedicine.

#ParamedicServicesWeek #HelpUsHelpYou