Executive Summary | Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Executive Summary
My combined experience as a manager, educator, business owner, and entrepreneur in the private and public sectors has equipped me to be a valuable leader in many aspects. The focus of my experience has been in the emergency services and medical transportation industries.
My specialised skill-set has positioned me to provide expert service not only in all aspects of Paramedic Services; emergency services in urban, rural, northern rural, and wilderness settings; community paramedicine; and non-urgent (non-ambulance) Medical Transportation Services, but can also be translated into any health or non-health related industry. My skills, as recognized with CMM III EMS Executive (Certified Municipal Manager), include operations, finance, Continuing Quality Assurance/Improvement (CQA/CQI), health and safety, education, supervision, and a personal favourite, the development and mentoring of other adult educators and leaders.
The result of this combined experience is a finely honed ability to manage people and enhance professional development of others that can be translated into any industry (Click Donald Clifton's Strengths Finder to see my top five strengths that contribute to my excellence as a manager). Being a manager has made me a better educator and vice versa. Teaching is about communicating, understanding, and providing guidance and direction for those we serve, all skills required to be a good manager, and a concept you will read throughout this portfolio.
In addition to being a certified Primary Care Paramedic with eleven years of direct patient care, I have gained over nine years experience of mid and senior management in various roles for Paramedic Services as a Field Superintendent, Quality Assurance Manager, Commander of Training, and Deputy Chief (A). to augment my public service experience, I have ten years experience in the private sector as an industry pioneer providing a highly successful non-urgent medical transportation service as an owner/operator. I am also a certified Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) 
Incident Management System (IMS) Instructor, and have been certified as an Instructor Trainer (IT) for all levels of First Aid 
(basic to advanced, urban and remote), and also several wilderness rescue programs with the National Ski Patrol (NSP).
My current employment is as a Project Manager and Educational Consultant for Premergency, adding to my experience, and providing me with the flexibility to further my studies. I have completed a Bachelors Degree in Clinical Practice, multiple post-graduate courses in adult education from the University of Victoria, and the First Responder PTSD Prevention and Recovery Certificate at Simon Fraser University (2017-2020). I have recently completed the Master's of Adult Education (M.Ad.Ed.) at St. Francis Xavier University (2017-2020). My overall learning goal was to understand more fully how critical thinking and critical reflection fosters transformational learning experiences (more information on my studies can be found under the Research tab). I am currently a Doctoral student at Liberty University completing an Ed.D. in Community Care and Counseling with a specialisation in Traumatology. My academic affiliations include; being a Senior Fellow with the McNally Project (a community of Paramedic researchers with a goal to foster the growth and development of research capacity within and related to paramedicine in Canada); and Research Appraiser for the Paramedic Evidenced-Based Practice (PEP) program at Dalhousie University, NS. I have also recently been appointed as Chair of the Ontario Paramedic Association's (OPA) Wellness Committee and member of the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment’s (CIPSRT) Academic, Research, and Clinical (ARC) Network.
Knowledge, Skills and Attitude
In addition to being a paramedic where I was tasked with the provision of pre-hospital emergency medical services to the public in a manner consistent with Legislation, Regulations, Standards, policies, and procedures, my work and life experiences have afforded me many skills and abilities. My resume (hyperlinked below) outlines my experience but does not detail the learning that comes from that experience, nor how those abilities can be used in the course of work. For example, my ability to prioritise and use superior time management skills that come from years of management and self-employment; or the ability to work well and make sound decisions in high stress situations as a result of paramedic experience, although can be elicited from my resume, are not overtly listed.
I have categorised my combined experience into nine distinct groups and have outlined the knowledge, skills and attitudes learned and applied in my practice within each category. Although described individually, each group of skills together document my abilities as a highly skilled educator and manager.
Human Resources | Project Planning | Professional Standards | Operations | Public Relations | Technology | Education | Research | Finance | Attitudes
Human Resources
Throughout my career, I developed a firm understanding of people in an employer/employee - teacher/student relationship paradigm. One of the difficult tasks begins with the hiring or intake process; identifying the best candidate for a job or seat in a class. The difficulty lies with identifying intrinsic motivators and seeking a candidate's level of skill and knowledge to support that motivation for success.
Once people are employed or in a program, I learned that supervision is much more than scheduling or monitoring work, performance or safety. Ongoing support and encouragement in continuous improvement is key and prevents complaints, grievances, remedial action, discipline and can make work easier when negotiating contracts. This includes my ability to listen, communicate, set realistic goals and provide timely feedback. Although all of these tasks are a part of human resources and I have the ability to apply my skills as required, my ability to manage with the mindset of equipping staff or students for success creates a positive environment and a workplace culture that supports their success.
This concept of support aligns with my personal belief structure where being a good leader requires the ability to serve the needs of the employee, a concept that will be interwoven throughout these sections. Each employee not only requires direction but also needs to feel safe, equipped to perform i.e. education and required resources, and supported through ongoing supervision, evaluation and feedback. Part of this belief structure is fairness, honesty, diplomacy and tact. This import approach contributes not only to my skills as a manager but also is evident in my experience with management/union contract negotiations and participation on employee relations committees (ERCs).
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Project Planning/Management
My experience in practice and academia has afforded me the ability to conduct project planning and program management. A project is the overarching task requiring management and coordination within a defined timeframe for completion, and program planning, in the context of the delivery of education, is where educational programs (singular or multiple if required) make up a component of the project. This is not to be confused with projects and programs in the corporate world where programs are a group of related projects.
I am able to utilise my learning from both practice and academia and apply it regularly within my daily role, developing complex projects through conducting needs analyses, identifying required resources, coordinating, equipping and supporting human resources to accomplish required tasks in a timely fashion, creating policies and procedures, developing required educational programs, implementation and monitoring/supervision of the project, and completing all projects with evaluation, feedback and/or reports. Some examples of projects I developed/managed are; Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB-Paramedic Service's PTSD Prevention Plan and peer support program; a Community Paramedicine program where I was tasked with investigating, designing and implementing program components (projects) for three Paramedic Services in Northeastern Ontario; and further in my past, the creation, implementation and management of a two-year college level Paramedic Program for Canadian Therapeutic College; and building a Medical Non-urgent Transportation Service from an idea to a successful business with 20 staff, six vehicles and grossing close to $1 Million annually.
Through this experience, I have developed skills in organisation, planning, evaluation, problem solving, and innovation to mention a few. I am familiar with, and able to conduct program planning/management in both contexts; managing a group of projects to meet specific objectives and educational program planning as discussed below.
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Education and Educational Program Planning
I have grouped education and program planning together as they are components of the greater whole of what it means to be an adult education facilitator. Delivering or facilitating educational content is the central theme of education but is only one of the components of my practice. Providing education requires a significant amount of planning and development prior to facilitation, and subsequent evaluation.
As a skilled facilitator, I am able to use my non-formal and informal personal learning that comes from my extensive experience and resulting informal learning teaching at the college level and within the workplace; and my formal learning arising from my postgraduate studies, to conduct needs analysis and develop, deliver, maintain and evaluate a multitude of different types of educational programs; not only for paramedics but also for other first responders, allied agencies and the general public.
As I identify more fully in the Philosophy section, I use the moniker of facilitator and not teacher to highlight my adult education philosophy and adult education theory; the way adults learn are through experience, self-direction and peer support. As an enthusiastic facilitator, I employ a creative, engaging and participatory style in the creation and delivery of educational programs. Examples of some of work can be found under the Facilitating tab
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Professional Standards
The field of paramedicine is highly regulated through many pieces of Legislation, Regulations and Standards. Words in the English language can carry many different meanings depending on the context in which they are used and the punctuation within each sentence, and many will find reading and interpreting legislative documents quite difficult. I have the ability to be precise, specific and am attentive to details, all skills required when reading and interpreting Legislation, Regulations and Standards.
As a practicing paramedic, I must be able to understand legislation to adhere to it but more importantly, as a manager I must ensure employees understand and work in compliance, from maintaining legislated qualifications to assuring their paramedic practice meets regulatory Standards. This skill seems to cross over many of the other skills categories in the sense that monitoring employee qualifications is a component of Human Resources, as is auditing paramedic documentation which informs employee performance, but also crosses over in Project and Program Planning in the corporate sense where a standardised documentation audit program was required to develop and implement a joint project with our certifying Base Hospital. The interrelated complexities such as these are what motivate me to learn and take on new challenges. The ability comes from being able to see the big picture while paying attention to details.
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Operations
The Operations section seems to be the shortest when tasks are listed but in reality, can be the busiest. Some of the reasons for this are the crossover into other categories such as Human Resources, Project Planning, and Public Relations, but under those categories, the context is different. Some tasks can be planned for such as committees (health and safety etc., stakeholder meetings), review and development of Policies and Procedures, vehicle maintenance, and purchasing and inventory of paramedic equipment. Other tasks such as vehicle and equipment breakdowns, labour/management issues, health and safety issues, employee/public interactions and maintenance of emergency deployment require more immediate attention.
My experience has provided me with the ability to think quickly, critically and decisively, all attributes required to manage the immediate day to day needs of operations as well as the ability to integrate the pre-planned activities into the busyness of each day, ensuring the service operates smoothly with calmness and poise, regardless of circumstances that may arise. Having the ability to manage each individual category as listed throughout the KSAs is important but having the ability to integrate them -manage the operation- is what makes a superior manager of Operations.
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Public Relations
By nature, being a paramedic or a manager of paramedics is Public Relations. Interactions occur on a daily basis with stakeholders such as Central Ambulance Communications Centre, Police, Fire Fighters, hospital staff; and in a management role, Ministry of Health, Union, Employee Relations Committee (ERC), Municipalities and First Nations Band Councils, and multiple stakeholder committees can be added.
Through my different roles in the private sector, I have developed expertise in marketing, advertising and promotion, and how to serve stakeholder customers through negotiations and communication as well as how to provide a superior service to clients. These skills have been honed over time and used within my public sector roles as paramedic manager, Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) Custodian, Communicable Disease Designated Officer and investigation roles. As an educator and manager, I feel very comfortable speaking in public forums. Working collaboratively with stakeholders, demonstrating open-mindedness, respect, sincerity and honesty, to accomplish common goals and efficient processes is an area I excel arising from decades of experience working within the public sphere and evidenced by my reliability, accountability and organisational skills. These skills have been augmented through close to a decade of working within the diversity of 18 municipalities and 13 indigenous communities served by the paramedic services and under the purview of my managerial positions.
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Technology
The use of technology permeates almost all workplaces and has become the norm for most. Gone are the days of the flashing clock on a VCR because you don't know how to set it. There is a requirement to have at least some level of technological expertise in most workplaces.
Throughout my different roles I have developed an expertise in many technological aspects from medical technology to web design. This includes comprehension of complex systems such as database driven documentation suites (Zoll RecueNet TabletPCR), data mining tools such as Tableau, and online learning management systems (LMS) such as moodle, as well as different content management systems (CMS) like SharePoint, WordPress and the one you are viewing now. This is in addition to Windows and Mac operating systems, the standard Office suites, and several design software suites such as Adobe (Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator etc) and Articulate. The ability to use and learn new technology is an asset that enhances my abilities as a manager and educator.
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Research
Research is closely entwined in many aspects. Starting a medical transportation service from scratch required in-depth research into legalities of the service, a needs analysis, and financial feasibility. My past and current roles require industry trends research to meet the needs of paramedic education as well as evaluation of medical devices, practices and procedures. Recent history has added research related to incident investigations and of course, there is my Masters research (see the Research tab above).
Additionally, I am a research appraiser for Prehospital Evidence Based Practice (PEP) at Dalhousie University, and a Fellow in good standing with the McNally Project for Paramedicine Research. The McNally Project is a grassroots initiative intended to build research capacity in paramedicine. It is a community, of and for, researchers and those hoping to become researchers. The McNally Project strives to contribute knowledge to the literature on paramedicine and topics related to paramedicine.
The skill of research is one that needs to be refined over time. Each experience has built on the last, polishing the skills and providing superior ability to fulfil my current roles and sufficiently prepared me for my postgraduate studies. As previously suggested, categories listed within the KSAs have a tendency to crossover, Research is a category requiring skills that support all categories such as planning, ethical reasoning, analytical abilities, attention to details are just a few. Research has become a central component permeating many facets of my life and work.
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Finance
The final category is finance. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to view Financial Management from both a private industry and public service viewpoints. I have experience in all financial areas from accounting, accounts payable/receivable, and payroll (both manual and software based) to completing T-2 corporate income tax returns. I have successfully participated in the tendering/RFP process and in seven-figure budgeting in both the private for-profit and public sectors.
My unique experiences in private and public realms have provided the ability to accurately forecast expenses, be fiscally reliable, responsible and accountable, and remain within budget. This knowledge is also an asset when writing business cases for special projects.
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Attitudes
Attitudes summarise the results of the experience, and the knowledge and skills I have gained. I am a dedicated and creative team member with integrity and strong work ethics. I am honest, fair, and caring, which is evident in my servant theory of management. I am able to create precise plans in advance and also respond to immediate needs. I am strategic, innovative and detailed, excelling as investigator and problem solver. I work well independently but also as a collaborator; flexible and adaptable when evidence suggests there is a better way to do things.
I am a professional, enthusiastic, and motivated by challenge, but I also have the ability to balance work and leisure with a sense of adventure. I am perceptive, self-aware, and have a positive outlook on life where every day is a new day, not just for myself but also for others. I am charismatic and have a sense of humour, excelling in presentations and public venues.
I believe lifelong learning is key to maintaining these attitudes as well as a requirement to be a good manager and educator; excelling in communication, understanding, and the provision of guidance and direction for those we serve.
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Charles Sturt University. (2017 April 28). Charles Sturt University. [Image] Embedded from http://www.csu.edu.au
St. Francis Xavier University. (2017 April 28). St. Francis Xavier University. [Image] Embedded from http://www.stfx.ca