Medic Monday is a day where the province recognizes and celebrates more than 1200 paramedics as they provide high-quality, professional and dedicated care, on the ground, in the air and over the phone.

“Paramedicine is a profession that puts others first and it can be physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. Our paramedics have shown us time and time again that they have dedicated their lives to serving our communities,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson. “Thank you to every paramedic for all you do, every day – from saving lives to comforting people in their time of need.”

Nova Scotia’s emergency health system inlcudes primary care, intermediate care, advanced care, and critical care paramedics.  They work in a variety of roles and settings including single paramedic response units, community paramedicine, hospitals, emergency preparedness and special operations, with EHS LifeFlight, and in the EHS medical communications centre.

In 2022, EHS received more than 189,000 calls.

Since its launch in August, the EHS LifeFlight non-critical care transport program, has transported 74 patients. This allowed for hundreds of ambulance service hours to be put back into communities.

To help recruit and retain paramedics, the province has:

— provided a tuition rebate to paramedics who agree to work in Nova Scotia for at least three years following graduation
— provided a retention bonus to recognize the hard-work of paramedics in Nova Scotia
— added a new Emergency Health Services (EHS) LifeFlight airplane to transfer non-critical care patients from Yarmouth and Sydney to Halifax for tests and treatment
— added a nurse to the 911 medical communications centre to manage non-life-threatening calls so paramedics can focus on emergencies.

Nova Scotia has celebrated paramedics on the last Monday of every month since 2013.