About Us

Uniting practitioners throughout the province, the Alberta Paramedic Association is an organization of elected representatives from across Alberta designed to support paramedics and advance the profession. As an independent organization, the Association is able to address concerns, promote ideas and work with government at all levels, whether locally, regionally or provincially.

It provides a VOICE for its members and empowers them to lead their own profession. 

The Proclamation (PDF Format) mandates the Association’s purpose.


Mission

The mission of the Alberta Paramedic Association is to support the advancement of the knowledge, skills and health & wellness of the paramedic profession.

Vision

To empower Alberta’s practitioners to lead their own profession through an elected, representative body known as the Alberta Paramedic Association.

Values

The Alberta Paramedic Association conducts itself using the following core values:

  • Professionalism: Represents itself with the display characteristics of a professional including reliability, competence, appearance and demeanour.
  • Pragmatic: Will use a sensible and realistic approach to decisions and or solutions to problems within the profession.
  • Democratic: The association is chosen by its members to represent its members. It will demonstrate democracy in all its affairs.
  • Collaborative: Utilizing collaboration with membership, stakeholders, professionals and agencies to reach its objectives.
  • Innovative: Providing solutions, supporting research, enhance knowledge and support evidence-based practice.
  • Diversity: The association believes that all demographics of the association’s members are welcome.

Organizational Chart

The lines in this graphic symbolize communication, this is not a traditional hierarchical org chart. Please contact us for any interpretation questions.

 

President of the Association

The President oversees the organization, its representatives and the Association’s objectives on behalf of all it’s members.  This position supports various areas including but not limited to: Association representation in government, stakeholders, research organizations and continuing education.

Len Stelmaschuk
President

Len has been a Paramedic for over 35 years in both ground and air ambulance delivery. His career has included opportunities within EMS operations, instructor of paramedic programs and legislative licensure and enforcement.

Len has worked as a Director within the Government of Alberta within Emergency Health Services, an Investigator for continuing care facilities/service delivery, Infection Prevention Control (IPC) medical device reprocessing, and Protection for Persons in Care.

He also has regulatory college experience under the umbrella of administrative law as a Complaints Director with the colleges of Paramedics, Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists and Acupuncturists. He holds a National registration in Investigation, Certification in IPC, and holds a Masters in Leadership from Royal Roads University. He is also a recipient of the EMS Exemplary Services Medal. Len continues to work as a casual ACP with Beaver EMS.

On a personal level, Len lives near Camrose Alberta and is married with two children (all grown up now) and has two grandchildren. He’s been a soccer coach, youth group leader, plays guitar (a little) and enjoys snowmobiling and playing with older vehicles…Focus on Fords. Len is honored to be a leader within the Alberta Paramedic Association and dedicate his time in assisting paramedics across the province.

Board of Directors

Vice-President

The vice president plans, develops and enforces policies and objectives for the organization to ensure it maintains its values and meets established goals.

Jason Spears
Vice-President

Jason has been in EMS for over 20 years in frontline ground response, industrial and instructional for all levels of EMS and leadership roles. He is currently working as an ACP on a frontline unit based in Cold Lake.

Along side of EMS, Jason has been a firefighter and officer for 30 years. Over the years Jason has taken on many roles with experience in municipal, rural, wildfire and industrial environments. Jason is currently a Captain with Cold Lake Fire-Rescue and training officer for his station.

Outside of emergency services, Jason is a proud father and grandfather. He also shares his career along side of his partner Sarah who is also an ACP. Jason is co-owner of a pyrotechnics/fireworks display company and an artist in many mediums.

Jason’s goal with the Association is to help invoke change to our profession and give those that feel they don’t have a voice a platform to know that they matter.

Treasurer

The Treasurer oversees all financial transactions and fundraising efforts going in or out of an organizing committee. Their primary duties include budget planning, financial reporting, record-keeping, and managing incoming and outgoing funds.

Bill Carstairs
Treasurer

Bill Carstairs has been in the accounting and finance field for over 20 years. Bill has been working in the real estate, property management and development industries since 1986 and owns a real estate and property management firm. He worked with the College of Paramedics from 2014 to 2018. His role with the College was the Director of Finance and/or Chief Financial Officer. It was during this period that he got to know the Directors for the Alberta Paramedic Association and many paramedics working in the industry. Bill has extensive non-profit and charitable reporting experience, including being the Vice President of Finance for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Prairies Division, between 2010 and 2014. The non-profit and charitable industries are highly competitive and regulated. The trends toward social entrepreneurial behavior and self-driven financial well-being by charities and NPOs is reflected in financial and governance training within the industry itself. Bill has focused much of his financial and governance training on non-profit specific educational opportunities. This background and experience will assist the organization as it grows and changes in the future. Although the Association is relatively young, the regulatory and reporting obligations are still substantial and financial practices are needed, that meet or exceed industry standards. These procedures will need to be modified again as the Association seeks to acquire charitable status with the Help Fund.

Board Secretary

 The Board Secretary is responsible for the proper management and utilization of important records such as meeting minutes and the organization’s by-laws.

Justin Stapley
Board Secretary

Justin is a Primary Care Paramedic from Edmonton Alberta. Justin has been involved in healthcare since 2011 where he began as a therapist assistant in the Occupational & Physiotherapy departments in Leduc Community hospital and Camrose St. Mary’s Hospital. It was the drive of helping others that motivated
Justin to pursue his career in pre-hospital care, enrolling in Emergency Services Academy for both his EMR and EMT-A programs.

Justin’s Paramedic experience includes multiple rural communities in Northern Zones and Central Zones of Alberta. His time on Ground Ambulance services has allowed him to shape his skills under multiple mentors that he credits to this day for helping him excel in patient care and education initiatives. These included Peer Educator in Central Zone AHS EMS and Employee Management Action Committee with HSAA.

Additionally, Justin started taking Instructor Certification courses in ITLS-Basic Provider, Red Cross Professional Responder Educator, Heart & Stroke BLS Instructor, FIT Testing, Audiology Technician, Spirometry Technician training and Drug & Alcohol specimen collection.

Like most paramedics, the pandemic created lateral career opportunities to pursue. This including COVID testing at the Edmonton SIAC/CIAC centres, being part of the Over-dose response team at Tipinawaw, the Temporary Shelter Edmonton Convention Centre, during the Pandemic, and eventual working as part of a Recovery Coach team at the George Spady Medical Detox Unit and their Supervised Consumption Site in inner city Edmonton area.

The most recent addition to Justin’s portfolio is volunteering with the Canadian Council of First Aid Educators for the Canadian Red Cross as one of their Professional Responder programs advisors.

During all this time, Justin has been a supporting member of the Association since 2016, creating some of the very first in-person Alberta Paramedic Association workshops in Edmonton & Calgary, as well as assisting in creating virtual workshops with some of the most amazing professionals to promote education, their research, and share their knowledge in our Paramedic Communities.

Justin hopes to re-focus education initiatives and explore new & existing partnerships to expand mental health programs that would be catered to the Paramedic profession.

Registrar

The Registrar is responsible for keeping the register and roster of the Association.

Roger Tewson
Registrar

Roger began his career with a small-town volunteer EMS service in 1990, in Magrath Alberta, and became aware that he really enjoyed the work.

Roger completed his advanced care paramedic training at Ricks College in Idaho as an NREMTP and then completed his Alberta ACP schooling at Augustana University College in 2003.

He has worked in rural and remote communities as well as large US metropolitan centers and received his Alberta Long Service Award in 2011, and his EMS Exemplary Service Award in 2017. Roger spent nearly 7 years on the College of Paramedics council serving one year as vice president. He also served four years on the Association board, one year as president and he is a founding member of the Association.

Roger currently works in the Central Zone in Linden and he is a peer trainer and educator with Portage College and AHS EMS. Rogers is currently working on his bachelor’s degree in emergency services management and is building a mentor project that he hopes will help change the way we treat our new paramedics in EMS.

Roger looks forward to working with this new board and hope we can accomplish the goals we need to be an example for other associations across Canada.

Carl Damour
Secretary of Knowledge

As a long-standing member of the profession, Carl recognizes the privilege and responsibility that comes with serving as a member of the Association’s Board. Carl also recognizes that if you are reading this, you are also an active member of the profession and for this he wishes to personally thank you for your dedication.

Carl has over three decades of varied Paramedicine experience across ground, fixed and rotary-wing, industrial, educational, regulatory, and managerial sectors. He has worked as a front-line ACP, in Ontario and Alberta and is also registered in New Brunswick. Today, Carl work clinically as an ACP and volunteer firefighter, in Alberta, while also managing a management consulting business. Throughout his career, he has had the fortunate privilege of working with many reputable organizations including the Canadian Medical Association, the Health Standards Organization/ Accreditation Canada, the Paramedic Association of Canada, the Alberta College of Paramedic, the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick
and many others.

Carl is proactive, strategic and operational business minded paramedic professional with many valuable transferable skills. He has managed multi-million-dollar budgets and has a great grasp of fiduciary and fiscal responsibilities. Carl is an integrity-driven leader and is regarded as a trusted advisor and go-to person. He understands the need to develop, and more importantly execute impactful strategies that promote efficiency, growth, improvement, and achievement.

Carl believes this position to be an honor to serve and represent members as part of the Association’s Board.

Executive Branch

The administrative branch of the Association is the Executive. This committee consists of the following functions:

  • Chief Operations Officer/ED: Vacant
  • Chief Development Officer: Vacant
  • Chief Business Performance Officer: Vacant
  • Chief Finance Officer: Bill Carstairs

Committees

There are also committees which works with practitioners, students and educators to enhance entry to practice education. They are:

  • Skills Development Committee – works to identify new skills while addressing some of the challenges a practitioner faces in maintaining competency on other skills.
  • Wellness Committee –  works to improve the wellness of the practitioner.
  • Ethics Committee –  an independent, elected committee consisting of four public members/professionals not affiliated with paramedicine who provide ethical oversight of the Association.
  • HELP Fund Committee – The Alberta Help Fund exists to support the health and wellness of the paramedic and provide relief during times of tragedy.

Delegation

The Delegation is a collection of 24 geographical districts and six special districts, with each district having an elected representative known as a Delegate.

A Delegate is an elected representative, who represent the professional interest of paramedics within their District.

Becoming a delegate in your area

Requirements
All prospective delegates are required to meet all criteria set out in section 5.2 of the Alberta Paramedic Association By-Laws.
The basic requirements for becoming a candidate are the following:
• Must reside within the District you are seeking nomination in or;
would qualify as a constituent in a special district you are seeking nomination in.
• Must be a member of the Alberta Paramedic Association.
• Submit all documents required by the nomination process.

Members’ Consent
Prospective candidates must provide the names, addresses and signatures of at least 10 members who are qualified to vote in the district where they intend to run.

Process
I. Submit a Declaration of Interest to the Registrar.
II. File the Nomination Paper with the Registrar.
III. Notification of Election and nominations by the Registrar of the Association.
IV. Election(s) are conducted as defined within the By-Laws.
V. The Membership is notified by the Registrar.

Eligibility
Unless specified to be ineligible under section 5.2 of the By-Laws, any person qualified as a nominee may run to be elected as a Delegate within their district.
Candidates are required to submit a Declaration of Interest (above) prior to nomination.


Association policy is a statement of intent and is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions within the organization.  The Association has the following policies:

Bylaws

The bylaws created by the Association are designed to ensure integrity of the organization as a professional association and provide a framework to create Paramedic VOICE. These bylaws were informed partly through a research project in the Masters in Leadership program at Royal Roads University. 

Political Affiliations

In keeping with the core value of ‘Collaborative’ the Association is non-partisan and will work to have respectful communication with any government party to empower our membership to lead their own profession and ensure a paramedic VOICE in health policy.

Funding

Operational funding is derived from membership fees. 
The Association offers corporate and project sponsorship,  government grants and donations from individuals.
Corporate sponsors will be listed on on a corporate sponsor and partnership page as they are acquired.
All sponsorship and donations are reported in the Associations financial reports available to members.