1958 Montreal Police department begins its free ambulance service.
1966 In the USA, a NTHSB report is published in regards to Emergency Medical Services. It is the beginning of Advanced Life Support care given by Paramedics
1966 The city of Sainte-Foy starts its own ambulance service.
1967 An 180 hours EMT-basic training is provided to ambulance personnel assigned to Royal Victoria hospital of Montréal, by Dr. Monaghan. Joined later by Cohen in the fall of 1972
1972 Bill 27 is passed on the protection of public health: It is the first law touching ambulance services in Quebec.
1972 In Saint-Jérome, M.Roger Halley takes the initiative of starting a training program for his ambulance personnel.
1972 Beginning of the television show EMERGENCY, which is the most important single event responsible for the evolution of the EMS system that exists all over the world today. Unfortunately, this show was never translated in French, and Quebequers never profited from this modern evolution en prehospital care.
1974 Parts of Bill 27 regarding ambulance services are put in place.
1974 Less than 4 years after starting their ALS program by Paramedic, Seattle/King County is deemed to be " The best place in the world to have a heart attack".
To this day, this expression is still givne to Seattle/King County, with more than 65% of its population trained in Cardio-Pulmonary Ressucitation (CPR)RCR), and a survival rate of cardiac arrests close to 20%. ( This rate is 6% in Montréal).
1974 Start of a Paramedic program (1080 heures) accredited by theNational Registry (U.S.A.) by Dawson College in Montréal, given by Dr. Cohen.
1975 Start of the provincial "Ambulance Attendant" 120 hours program, as stated in the law ( still written that way in ), in designated College in the province.
1975 Beginnig in the USA of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), a non-profit organization promoting professionnal improvement from EMS personnel in the USA . NAEMT has now over 50000 ambulance workers from all over the world
1976 Start of the first responder service by the firefighters of Pointe-Claire, and the first responder and ambulance service of Westmount.
1976 Beginning of CAMBI ( Corporation ambulancière de Beauce inc.), created and managed by publics services ( Regional health board, Hospitals, social clubs , municipalities).
1977 Ambulance service "Ressusicar" is started by Dr. Peter Cohen. A non-profit organization, it is financed by the Royal Victoria hospital of Montréal, and is a practical "laboratory" for ambulance and paramedic students of Dawson College.
1978 Télé-Médic begins its activity: initially a home medical visit service, it soons become a full prehospital care service.
1978 A Health Ministry comite presents a new proposal for an EMS system that would be directly under the responsability of an ambulance service branch of the Ministry.
1978 Dawson College stops its Paramedic program. Restarted in 1979 and definitaly stopped in 1982.
1978 The television serie EMERGENCYends. The show is still view in syndication all over the world in 1998
1979 Télé-Médic buys its firsts ambulances.
1981 Télé-Médic closes, due to political, financial and judicial pressures.
1981 Befinnings of Health Emergencies Coordination Centre (Centre de Coordiantion des Urgences Santé) of the Regional Health Council of Montreal (Conseil de la Sante et des Services Sociaux de la Région de Montréal Métropolitain ).
1981 Bill 27 allows the Ministry to control ( i.e. reduce) the number ambulance permits and the number of ambulance, and to impose a mandatory billing of services in the ambulance system.
1983 Creation of Rassemblement des Employés Techniciens Ambulanciers du Québec ( RETAQ) , a union affiliated with CNTU (CSN), regrouping the ambulance technicians in the Montreal region.
1983 The Montreal Urbana Community Police Department put an end to its police ambulance service, and the end of free ambulance transport.
1986 Mediator Drouin's report recommendsthe creation for regional dispatch centers for EMS. In 1998, this report has still not been acted upon, execpt en Montérégie and Québec City regions.
1986 Introduction for the new basic training program ( 1230 hours) for Ambulance Technicians by a joint Health-Education Ministries-Regional Health Boards-Colleges comity. Oh! surprise! This program was never implemanted.
1988 The Coopérative des Employés Techniciens Ambulanciers de la Montérégie (CETAM) is the first ambulance coop in Québec owned and operated by Ambulance Technicians.
1988 In december, the Coopérative des Techniciens Ambulanciers du Québec Métropolitain (CTAQM) begins its operations, after taking over the private ambulance companies in the Québec City region.
1989 Bill 34 creates the Corporation d'Urgences Santé du Montréal Métropolitain ( Montreal EMS ), removing the health emergencies from the the Montreal Regional Health Board. Urgences Santé becomes a regular ambulance company similar to the other ambulance companies in Québec.
1989 Restart of the Ambulance Technician program given by CEGEP Ahunstic, a program of 336 hours, to fill the lack of manpower at Urgences Santé. This program will stop in 1991.
1991 The first PHTLS course in Québec is given in Montreal.
1991 Introduction of then first provincial training program trained Ambulance Technician: Cardio-Pulmonary Ressucitation in Emergency Prehospital Care (Réanimation Cardio-Respiratoire en Soins Préhospitalier d'Urgence ).
1991 CETAM introduces a Semi-Automatic External Defibrillator ( SAED ) in its ambulances.
1992Beginnings of Consultants Pro-Med, a company dedicated in providing first response and first aid services in small and larger gatterings of people, by volunteers.
1993 Urgences Santé begins the training of its 800+ Ambulance Technicians on SAEDs and Combitube airway.
1994 First College level Ambulance Technician training program, of 810 hours . This training will be later ( 1996) increased to 840 hours to include PHTLS, SAED and Combitube modules.
1994 New US curriculum for EMT-Basic (120 heures), including an optional 4 hours for AEDs and another optional 16 hours for Endo-tracheal Intubation. Most EMT-Basic and First Responder programs have now included the AED module in their curriculum.
1995 The 15 of December is the day the Office des Professions du Québec ( Professions Regulatory Board ) receives an official request to establish a professionnal Ambulance Technicians board in Québec by Me André Caron, Lawyer and ... Ambulance Technician.
1996 First ACLS prepatory course certified with the Quebec Hearth Fondation to non-doctors.Before, Ambulance Technicians had to go take the exams in other canadian provinces or in US states to get their certification. But Quebec's Ambulance Technicians are still not allowed to perform Advance Life Support care, thus giving Québec the unflattery title of being the only province/state in North America that does not provide Advance Life Support to its population.
1996 First time since 1981 that Urgences Santé does not have an operational deficit. In 1995, the operational deficit was around 3 millions dollars.
1996 In Pittsburg, the new EMT-Intermediate and EMT-Paramedic curriculum are introduced on a trial basis at the Center for Emergency Medicine.
1997 A post-mortem analysis reveals that around 30 patients, that had been intubated with the Combitube, developped sub-cutaneous emphysema and a direct relation was made between those two occurences.
1997 End of the trial trainings with the new EMT-I and EMT-P that began in August 1996. The results are better than expected.
1997 Urgences Santé removes 2/3 of its fleet of ambulances due to a defect in the braking system in its Top Kick ambulances. Urgences Santé must rent ambulances from different ambulance companies in Quebec, and rents 15 ambulances form the Ontario goverment.
1997 Urgences Santé has a budget surplus close to $2 million dollars. This surplus will go to pay the long time debt of 13 million dollars it cumulated during the years. This surplus is one year in advance of the initial plans. But service has been reduced and response times are longer.
1997 The Coopérative des Techniciens Ambulanciers du Québec Métropolitain (CTAQM) starts an air evacuation service with a Bell 206 helicopter.
1997 CTAQM stops its air evac program because the Health ministry refuses to participate to the operation cost of running the service.
1998 The Office des Professions du Québec delays its final response to award or deny the Ambulance Technicians Professionnal Board.
1998 A few Regional Health Boards authorizes the training of their Ambulance Technicians in giving epinephrine to patients suffering from anaphylactic shock ( severe allergy reaction ). Les than a month after its implementation, Montérégie Regional Health Board has 4 patients saved by this life-saving injection for severe allergy reaction.
1999Quebec's auditor general publishes his report on the how the goverment's expenditures are used in EMS: he criticizes the goverment's lack of supervision and control on how its money is spent, the lack of consistenties on how the Regional Health boards distributes the money, and that overall, the public does not get what it pays 200 millions dollars for.
1999Quebec's Ministry of Health and Social Services announces that it has created a provincial committee to evaluate ways to reform the EMS system in the province. Fears are that this will only be a process to cut costs, not to actually improve this already deficient EMS system, one of the worst in the civilized world.
1999 Special meeting of the Ad-Hoc Comity for ambulance technicians, with the goal of writing a memorandum on an EMS reform, which will be submitted to the Quebec National Commity on EMS reform (Dicaire Commity.
2000 Another medevac helicopter service starts up in Quebec, the Sociétés de Sauvetages Aériens & Évacuations Aéromédicales du Québec (now AirMedix), which will initially cover the Saguenay/Lac Saint-Jean region.
2001 Urgences Santé initiates phase 1 (training and gathering of data) of a study on the Symptom Relief program, which will eventually allow EMS workers in Quebec to administer epinephrine (anaphylaxis), Aspirin et Nitroglycerin (cardiac chest pains), Glucagon (hypoglycemia) and Ventolin (shortness of breath).
2001 Urgences Santé begins the training of a group of ambulance technicians for a study in providing Advanced Life Support in EMS by non-doctors. This is already common practice in the rest of Canada and the United States of America.
2001 Creation of the Association Professionnelle des Paramédics du Québec APPQ, a professional association for paramedics
2002 First Annual General Meeting of the APPQ
2002 Phase 2 (supplying medications to patients) of the study on the Symptom Relief program gets underway.
2002 Bill 96 on Emergency Medical Services is presented to the National Assembly, and is later voted as law, making this the first dedicated EMS law in Quebec
2002 The Quebec Medical Board submits to the Quebec Professional Office a by-law to the Medical Law authorizing Advanced Life Support care by ambulance technicians.
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Updated on 18 March 2003