New chief named for Dufferin County Paramedic Service

June 13, 2024 · 0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

A new Chief has been appointed to the Dufferin County Paramedic Service (DCPS).

Dufferin County and Headwaters Health Care Centre (HHCC) announced in a June 5 press release that veteran paramedic, Gary Staples, had been named as the newest Chief of the Dufferin County Paramedic Service.

“It’s an exciting time and I’m really looking forward to this new role. It’s a huge privilege and honour to be named the next chief, following in the leadership of Tom Reid. I’ve had the opportunity to work with him for 20 years and for the last seven as one of his deputies. I’ve learned a lot from Chief Reid and I’d like to take a lot of those lessons learned to continue to ensure our community receives exceptional pre-hospital care as well as care in our community paramedic program,” said Staples.

Staples has been a member of the Dufferin County Paramedic Service for over 23 years. He graduated from the Fanshawe College Paramedic Program in 1999 as a primary care paramedic. Over his paramedic career, Staples has served in various communities including Palmerston, Mount Forest, Wellington, Dufferin County and Toronto, where he completed his training as an advanced care paramedic.

In 2012, Staples was selected for a superintendent position and for the past seven years has served as Deputy Chief of performance, quality and development.

An advocate for continuous learning, he has completed leadership development and adult teaching programs at Conestoga College.

He is also enrolled in a Bachelor of Health Administration program from Toronto Metropolitan University, with a major in health services management and a minor in economics, and is expected to graduate in early 2025.

“I’ve always supported continuing education, and I feel it’s a good opportunity where people are lacking experience to build that foundation. Part of moving forward with the new leadership team, education and continuous learning is going to be integral to ensuring we are not only providing excellent care, but also being great leaders for our staff and community.”

In his new role, Chief Staples will lead strategic direction in providing Dufferin County with pre-hospital emergency response, community safety and relations, and community paramedicine.

Staples said his focus in the upcoming months will be building a leadership team to help support DCPS frontline staff, continuing to develop the community paramedic program, and creating a strategic plan to guide what service will look like for the next 5-10 years.

Staples will report jointly to Annette Jones, vice president of patient experience and chief nursing executive at Headwaters Hospital, and Sonya Pritchard, chief administrative officer of Dufferin County.

“We are thrilled that Chief Staples is taking on the leadership as Chief Dufferin County Paramedic Service. With a profound understanding of our communities and a steadfast commitment to service excellence, under his leadership, we are confident the team will continue to support our communities,” said Jones.

Dufferin County Paramedic Service consists of a team of 70 paramedics across three stations including a headquarters in Orangeville and two satellite stations in Shelburne and Grand Valley. The local paramedic service has been a provider of land ambulances for over 50 years, serving over 67,000 people across Dufferin County.

“I want to continue to provide that exceptional care that [residents] have become accustomed to and expect to receive from the paramedic team,” said Staples. “I want people to know that I’m available if they ever have any concerns or if they want to discuss paramedics. I’m always open to those discussions and learning about experiences related to paramedic services.”