Canadian Paramedic School Looking to Double Enrollment

The Atlantic Paramedic Academy is on a recruiting drive to double its student body for the next three years, after the province announced earlier this month that it will create an additional 200 paramedic jobs in New Brunswick by 2010.

The goal is to have 150 new students signed up for training at the academy by September, double the number accepted last year. Traditionally, there have been about 70 spots open.

Students will be on three campuses: a main one in Moncton, an English remote campus in Fredericton and a French location in Tracadie.

Conrad Landry, the school's program director, said there are 120 new students studying in the province.

"We're still looking for between 30 to 40 more applications," Landry said Monday.

Dale Chase, a paramedic at Queens Sunbury West Ambulance in Fredericton Junction, said while it's good for people to be interested in taking the $12,000 year-long course, it takes a certain type of person to actually do the job.

"Well, you're dealing with a lot of different emotions when you're out on a truck," Chase said. "I mean you deal with death, sadness. I mean there's just all kinds of different emotions that you go through when you're working on an ambulance."

There are about 800 paramedics in the province. Their turnover rate sits at about 50 people a year, a number Landry admits will likely rise with more people in the job pool.

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