SUDBURY - A change in paramedic education at Cambrian College has left Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services scrambling to find an alternative Advanced Care Paramedic program.
Possible options include an in-house training program and partnering with a local college.
“Northern Ontario is facing a human health resource shortage, which is no surprise, including in the paramedic sector,” city Paramedic Services Deputy Chief Melissa Roney told the community and emergency services committee of city council recently.
She credited Cambrian College’s Advanced Care Paramedic program with being “instrumental” in helping Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services maintain staffing levels.
Effective August 2024, the two-semester program, which served as a follow-up to their four-semester Paramedic program, was cancelled.
“Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services has been strongly advocating for Cambrian College to reinstate the (Advanced Care Paramedic) program, however their focus remains on the implementation of the three-year (Primary Care Paramedic) Program,” Roney’s report to the committee noted.
“The loss of this vital paramedic development program poses challenges to our ability to recruit and retain (advanced care paramedics), particularly given the geographic and logistical barriers for paramedics in the Northeast to access alternate training programs.”
Although Cambrian College staff weren’t available for comment during Christmas break regarding the two-semester Advanced Care Paramedic program’s cancellation, Sudbury.com reported earlier this month on their efforts to transform their two-year paramedic diplomas into three-year degrees.
The college’s board of governors approved the new three-year degree at their Dec. 11 meeting, with an anticipated launch date of September 2026.
Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services has both primary care and advanced-care paramedics, including 52 full-time and six part-time advanced care paramedics and 54 full-time and 48 part-time primary care paramedics, of which 23 are under temporary full-time contracts.
The advanced-care paramedics have specialized training beyond primary-care paramedics, and have been stationed strategically throughout Greater Sudbury for high-acuity calls, including such things as sudden cardiac arrest, seizures, choking, respiratory and cardiac distress or failure and major trauma.
“ACPs require an additional year of education and are equipped to provide an advanced level of prehospital care, making them critical in managing complex and life-threatening medical emergencies,” according to Roney’s report.
In 2024, nine advanced care paramedics resigned, primarily to take roles at Ornge’s base at the Sudbury Airport, which is expanding, and a neighboring paramedic service whose advanced-care paramedic staffing level increased.
Cambrian College has been the sole provider of advanced-care paramedic training in the Northeast region since the 2001-02 school year.
During the first quarter of 2025, Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services staff plan on presenting options to city council on how they might train paramedics in advanced care now that Cambrian College has closed the two-semester program.
An internal training program, such as those in York Region and Toronto, is one option, and another is partnering with a local college.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.