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Jen Bolster

Is an Advanced Care Paramedic and Paramedic Practice Leader (PPL) with the department of Clinical Governance and Professional Practice at BC Emergency Health Services. Jen’s role as a PPL is unique in Canada. PPL’s are clinical managers who oversee paramedic practice throughout the province but there are a few things that make them unique. The first is that unlike most managerial roles they remain clinically active to maintain clinical competency and close connections with the frontline. The second is that they are all heavily involved in paramedic-led research, constantly reviewing and appraising the literature to ensure practice at BCEHS is evidence-based and progressive. The third is that they all have obtained masters level education at a minimum, with some members pursuing doctorate level education in their specific fields.

As part of her role as a PPL, Jen is responsible for clinical portfolios in which hers include mental health, substance use, and the toxic drug crisis. In Jen’s role overseeing these programs she has had the privilege of working with provincial leaders of drug policy and harm reduction initiatives such as the BCCDC and the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, and its through these relationships that she has been working collaboratively to enhance the way paramedics in British Columbia provide care for people who use drugs.

Jen is sounding the alarm that not a square inch of the province of BC has been unaffected by the crisis. Working on the frontlines of a provincial organization means every patient and every paramedic is being affected, and as a service provider the organization is burdened with the monumental task of meeting the demand for emergency health services in rural communities that otherwise have never required such a response.

Jen emphasizes the importance of the paramedic role given the frequency at which they interact with people who use drugs. She proffers that paramedics are uniquely positioned to offer alternative models of care that aim to reduce harm, but that the window of opportunity to offer these tools is narrowing.

In this episode Jen speaks to some of the things paramedics can be doing to reduce harm in their approach, and in pathways that their organizations can be offering to patients. You can learn more about what the literature is saying about the paramedic role in caring for people who use drugs in Jen’s scoping review found here: The paramedic role in caring for people who use illicit and controlled drugs: A scoping review – Jennifer Bolster, Richard Armour, Michelle O’Toole, Meghan Lysko, Alan M. Batt, 2023 (sagepub.com)