Two Northumberland County Paramedics earned second place competing in the National Paramedic Competition.
Advanced Care Paramedics Chris Hopkins and Bryan Brockbank took part in the competition on April 6 at Durham College in Oshawa.
It’s the highest place Northumberland County Paramedics have achieved in the 20-years of the competition.
The competition integrates a combination of practical scenarios and skills testing as well as an academic test to challenge competitors to demonstrate their patient care skills and ability to problem solve some of the more challenging situations that any paramedic may face.
There are teams represented from all over the province, and at times across North America and internationally. There are three team categories – Student/college, Primary Care Paramedic and Advanced Care Paramedic.
This year Northumberland Paramedics sent two teams representing the Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) and Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP) divisions. Hopkins and Brockbank placed second in the Advanced Care Paramedic division and Erin Gregus and Alanna Staunton placed forth.
It’s the second year of Gregus and Staunton have competed together.
Last year they represented their graduating college, Sir Sanford Fleming College. This year they scored exceptionally well on the written exam component, unofficially tying for second place three ways right behind the top team for this category.
Bryan Brockbank has been a paramedic since 2013 and been involved in the competition for seven years and have won it twice in the primary care division.
Previously he has placed third in the advanced care paramedic division.
Full day competition starting at 7 a.m. with competition starting at 9 a.m. with a written exam, then different 18-minute scenarios based on real life.
The equipment used is typically what the paramedics would use while working, and with the limited time for each scenario things change suddenly and paramedics have to adapt.
“They get amped up a bit for the skills competition then they throw in distractors, second patients, being limited to only yourself because your partner gets called away.”
The paramedics explained sometimes the competition gets creative. This year there was an escape room where a patient had suffered a collapsed lung from a gunshot wound.
“You had to manage that while your partner was trying to put together puzzles to get more equipment. The more boxes you could open with the different clues you were given, the more equipment you were given to help the patient.”
Hopkins has been a paramedic since 2010 and has competed once as a primary care paramedic and has been a judge for four years.
“There is a lot less stress judging,” said Hopkins with a smile.
“This is the highest acuity calls you get in your career and you’re dealing with six of them in a day.”
“It’s a great learning experience and a great way to challenge yourself,” said Hopkins.
Brockbank agreed saying, “the internal drive to always want to do well and knowing you are being judged by your peers.”
Before the announcement of the winners, both paramedics spoke to each other how they did throughout the day and agreed that it was a “building year” as it was the first time they competed as a team.
“We kind of thought we may have got third or fourth, but when they announced third and we didn’t get it we assumed we came in forth.,” said Brockbank.
“When they announced second we were surprised.”
A team from Niagara Region came in first.
Although it’s a stressful day going through roller-coaster of emotions of having fun, to “why did I put myself through this,” at the end of the day both paramedics said they look forward to next years competition in Hamilton.
Northumberland County Paramedic Chief Bill Detlor said, “we were proud to once again support our paramedics to participate in the annual Ontario Paramedic Competition. Congratulations to our two teams for your excellent outcome! This type of dedication and pride in your profession translates to industry leading care to the communities we serve.”
“Great job!!”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
