By KIRAN BHARADWAJ | Project Leader
Cheryl works with the Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services in Alberta, Canada. Below she shares her experience with palliative care as a paramedic, which was presented in an award winning poster at the 2016 International Palliative Care Network's virtual conference.
I am currently in a unique roll, leading the development, implementation and evaluation of the Provincial Emergency Medical Services Palliative and End of Life Care Assess, Treat and Refer (EMS PEOLC ATR) program. Alberta Health Services provides ambulance service under a provincial model to over 4,200,000 million people across more than 660,000 square kilometres. With over 450 ground ambulances across the province, the assess, treat and refer program is one of the ways Alberta Health Services is providing patient centered care and building palliative care capacity in the community setting. Complex care issues often leave primary and palliative healthcare providers and paramedics in the community with little option but to transport patients with palliative and end of life symptoms to the emergency department during symptom crisis. This program allows paramedics to treat patients in their homes, in collaboration with their primary or palliative care team, aligning the care provided with the patient’s preferred location of care.
Working on this project and learning about palliative care has been an amazing experience, as this is not an area that many would traditionally think of as a role for paramedics. Seeing the impact that the program has made on patients and families during difficult times in their lives has also been very rewarding. Thank you for recognizing the work we are doing here in Alberta by awarding our poster the 2nd place prize in the International Palliative Care Network Conference 2016 of the Palliative Care Network (PCN) Community. It is definitely an honor to be recognized alongside the other amazing work that is going on in palliative care around the world.
Palliative Care Network continues to share the innovative works of experts in palliative care for FREE. The conference is a highly successful program that is supported by individual and organizational funds which help us attain our goal.
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