In Canada, Community Paramedics Are Joining This Team

Table of Contents:

• Trivia

• Mobile HART Hub Rolls Out Regional Reach

• Community Paramedicine: Bringing Care Home to Strengthen Health Systems

• Mobile Clinic Drives Direct Care to Rural Idaho Doorsteps

Read time: 3 minutes

New Program

A new mobile outreach initiative launched by the Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub is hitting the road across Hastings and Prince Edward Counties. The program, introduced from the Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services base in Stirling, teams a community paramedic with a Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) worker, sometimes joined by a nurse or public health staff, to deliver on-the-ground support.

The model builds on a successful pilot in Belleville, where similar outreach helped ease pressure on emergency rooms, ambulances and law-enforcement resources. Recognizing that hidden homelessness and addiction challenges can differ significantly across rural and urban settings, the HART team is conducting community needs assessments to tailor their routes and partnerships accordingly. Funded for a three-year term under HART Hub funding, this mobile initiative aims to provide care on people’s terms, where they are and when they need it.

Education

In this piece, Sherri Julé of the Saskatchewan Health Authority describes how community paramedicine (CP) enables paramedics to deliver care outside of the traditional emergency-response model, meeting patients in homes or nearby. She explains that in Saskatchewan, many patients receive care at home rather than travelling to a hospital around 90 % in their CP program. The article outlines how CP teams support patients by performing clinical assessments, medication management, vital sign monitoring, wound dressings and more.

Because CP teams work collaboratively with physicians, nurses, home-care staff and allied health professionals, they help ease pressure on emergency departments and improve patient flow in acute care. Julé emphasises that CP isn’t intended to replace existing services, but to augment them, building better bridges between community-based and system-based care. Finally, she notes the program’s emphasis on flexibility, standardized orientation/training and data collection, enabling the system to make the case for CP’s value and expand to other jurisdictions.

New Program

Dr. Wendy Swope (DNP, ACNP-C) has launched Marsh Valley Mobile Medical to address the long travel distances and winter-road challenges faced by residents in rural southern Idaho communities. Operating out of Swan Lake, Swope is bringing a mobile primary-care service to towns like Lava Hot Springs, Downey, Arimo, McCammon, and Inkom, tailoring her route based on the specific needs of each locality.

She offers exams, chronic-condition management, immunizations, and treatment for minor injuries, plus basic medications and minor-procedure supplies from her mobile setup. Moreover, she emphasizes that the service is a complement to—not a replacement of, the main doctors in larger towns, positioning it as an urgent-care bridge for people who may otherwise delay care. In addition to medical services, Swope is exploring partnerships with food banks to deliver fresh produce and healthy food in areas where grocery access is limited—underscoring a holistic view of rural health.