Medical advancements have changed the way patients are cared for both in hospital and in the field where reacting quickly is crucial.
When paramedics get a call for a Code Four emergency it means there is a life-threatening injury or illness.
And the ambulance acts as an emergency department on wheels, with all the equipment they need to try to be prepared for anything and highly trained staff.
John Prno, director of Region of Waterloo Emergency Medical Services, says "We'll stay at the scene and we'll run full cardiac arrest protocols at the scene without moving the patient towards the hospital."
Primary and advanced care paramedics in Waterloo Region are licensed by the Ministry of Health to administer medications and undertake medical treatment in the field.
Advanced care paramedic Mark Lejeune says "We have a huge amount of training. We constantly retrain and constantly upgrade our training. A lot of that we do in conjunction with doctors of all sorts of specialties."
For paramedics arriving on scene, their only priority is patient care.
For Lejeune that means "We have to be prepared with the eventuality of dealing with anything, from something minor to something very severe."
And whatever the circumstances he says he loves to go to work and help in any way he can, "I can't imagine myself doing any other career."
And that's a good thing, because there's a lot of work that needs to be done.
In 2010 Waterloo Region EMS responded to about 36,000 calls, and treated and transported about 31,000 patients.
