For three days in October 2017 (23, 24, 25) at the Cunard Centre on the Halifax waterfront, paramedics, first responders, EMS physicians, and their colleagues in the health professions were invited to join local, national and international guest speakers and presenters to honour the past…celebrate the present….and imagine the future.

This event focused on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of a paper in a British medical journal, The Lancet, testing the theory that citizens of Belfast, Northern Ireland who had been dying within an hour or so of a ‘heart attack’ (myocardial infarction) could be saved if given immediate or rapid care. This event also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the foundation of out of hospital emergency care was the basis for the creation of our Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services system.

Paramedics, first responders, EMS physicians, and their colleagues in the health professions came together to find out about what’s new in the field of emergency care, the latest clot busting drugs and updates on current research in emergency medical services, as well as taking a look back at the way we were, looked into how we’re doing, and looked ahead to where we want to be.

The three-day celebration was composed of a combination of plenary and panel talks from pioneers of the system including Dr. John Geddes, co-author of the Lancet paper, and a public showcase of the innovations of our own system, as well as the Annual EMS Research Day.