Care Paramedic program provides certification in Pediatric Education
Pre-hospital Providers (PEPP), Advanced Neonatal Resuscitation and
Advanced Cardiac Life Support.

The Academy also offers specialty and advanced care courses,
including International Trauma Life Support and Emergency Services
Instructor Training; resuscitation for physicians, nurses and allied health
professionals; and specialty training such as Confined Space Rescue for
pre-hospital providers.

In his first operating plan as Director, Eddy Workhoven wrote,
“The 2008/09 year will focus on rebuilding the infrastructure necessary
to strengthen the Academy’s core foundation. I understand that investing
in the Paramedic Academy means investing in our staff so that they, in
turn, can deliver the expert paramedic training that is required by our
customers.”

He quotes from the organizational mandate: “The Paramedic
Academy is committed to advancing the role of paramedicine within the
evolving health care system through the development and delivery of inno-
vative education and training.

“By working together to build, implement and share leading educational
practices we will achieve our vision...”

As Workhoven says, “A vision, to me, is just that. So what is this
going to look like? I think we know we have to focus and renew. It’s impor-
tant how the Academy positions itself-—with our leadership, our people-
focus, our approach to innovation—and then get our paramedic vision out
there to show where we're coming from and how it supports the JI’s overall
vision”

He follows in the footsteps of the original visionary for paramedic
training in the province, Dr. Les Vertesi—who in 1999 became the first
recipient of the Institute’s Joseph H. Cohen Award for outstanding contri-
butions to public safety. Reflecting on those early days, Vertesi says, “I call
them magical times. There are times when things just fall into place and
it becomes very easy to do them—who could've thought? All the other
players helped, like the union members, the people themselves who put
their pride on the line to take the program in full view of their peers. And
the Justice Institute came in just at the right time; we couldn't have done
it without them. They were an answer to a problem that we couldn't solve
another way. It was absolutely the best solution”

Substance Abuse

Addiction to drugs anid alcohol is at the root of
much of the crime in Canada and a considerable
financial burden on the health care systern. The
JIBC has taken an imaginative approach to train-
ing people working in this field, whether they are
in social agencies, health care or criminal justice.

The Community and Social Justice Divi-
sion offers a Substance Use Certificate Program
that is based on harm reduction and emphasizes
understanding substance use within a bio-psy-
cho-social-spiritual context. Students may take
courses Individually, or as part of the certificate.
The introductory course, Understariding Sub-
stance Use (also offered online), emphasizes
such topics as identifying barriers that prevent
addicts from seeking help and ethical challenges
for practitioners in this field. An additional ten
core courses cover subjects like understanding
pharmacology from a counsellor’s perspective,
and compassion and policy: the heart and mind
of drug policy reform. Electives cover this subject
from several different angles, including an over-
view of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the use
of art therapy for helping recovering addicts and
the problems of vicarious trauma and compas-
sion fatigue.