Emergency Medical Responder

This course is only available to those already holding either an FR or OFA3 certificate, and provides the knowledge and skills necessary in an emergency to help sustain life, reduce pain, and minimize the consequences of injury or sudden illness in a pre-hospital setting. It is intended for those providing emergency response: firefighters, law-enforcement officers, paramedics, and workplace responders.

This course meets the Paramedic Association of Canada National Occupational Competency Profile for the practitioner level of emergency medical responder (EMR).

Completion of this course allows students to apply for licensing with the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board (EMALB) and can be used to help gain employment with fire departments throughout British Columbia or on-ambulance as an EMR with the BC Ambulance Service. Please note – licensing is a separate process conducted directly by the EMALB. They set the schedule and fees for this next step. Students will need to undertake and pay for additional exams as part of this.

There is online pre-work to be completed before the first day of class. Once you have registered and paid you will receive an email with more information about accessing this online material 2 weeks before the start of class. The pre-work will take approximately 13 hours to complete.

Please note that this course is offered in partnership with Columbia Paramedic.

Candidates must be 19 years of age, hold a valid WorkSafeBC OFA Level 3 certificate (or equivalent) preferably issued within the previous six months or First Responder Certificate.

How to register

To register for this program, visit Emergency Medical Responder

Tuition and Fees for Domestic Students:

For the 2024/25 academic year (2024/SU, 2024/FA, 2025/WI, 2025/SP)

Additional Costs:

The required course textbook is Emergency Medical Responder: A Skills Approach, Fifth Canadian Edition by Limmer, Karen et al. Students can choose to purchase either an e-book or a hard copy of the text. This can be done directly through the publisher here, or students are free to source this themselves through other book providers.

Completion of the Emergency Medical Responder program prepares you for careers as a first responder, including:

• Paramedical Occupations * – Emergency Medical Responder

With additional education, career opportunities include:

• Paramedical Occupations * – Primary Care Paramedic, Advanced Care Paramedic, Critical Care Paramedic, Infant Transport Team.
• Firefighter *

* High Opportunity Occupation