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New Simcoe County paramedic chief ‘honoured’ to serve

Chief Sarah Mills brings 20 years of front-line and administrative experience to the table
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Director and Chief Sarah Mills of the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services.

It’s only her second week on the job, but the County of Simcoe’s new paramedic chief is ready to hit the ground running.

The county has appointed Sarah Mills to serve as the new director and chief of County of Simcoe Paramedic Services, taking the reins from former chief Andrew Robert. Mills served as acting deputy chief for the county during the transition following Robert’s retirement.

“I’m so proud and honoured to have this opportunity to work in this role,” said Mills. “I love this county. I’ve moved my family here – my husband is from here and my kids go to school here. We really want to provide the best medical care we can and focus on our staff, keeping them healthy and well.”

Mills is a graduate of both primary and advanced-care paramedicine programs, holds a bachelor’s degree in health administration, and has additional certification and expertise in infection prevention and control from Queen’s University.

During her 20-year career she has held paramedic roles in York Region, the District of Muskoka and the County of Simcoe as paramedic services operations commander, overseeing deployment, scheduling and specialized programs including their incident response unit and implementing infection prevention and control guidelines. She worked on the front lines for the County of Simcoe paramedic service from 2002-2007.

“I was looking for a different challenge and purview to push the profession forward. Serving as commander has created a lot of opportunities for me,” said Mills. “When the chief left, I saw a great opportunity to lead a great group of people.”

Mills acknowledges that paramedics are facing major challenges across the sector, such as an increase in call volume and off-load delays at hospitals. She notes that growth in the Simcoe County population is a major factor in those challenges.

“Our staff are faced with, on a daily basis, offload delay challenges,” said Mills. “We continue to work with our staff and community partners at hospitals and the province to look at pinch points and work on solutions.”

Mills said one of her main goals moving forward is putting the right resources in the right place at the right time, while advancing partnerships with provincial and local area health and emergency service partners.

“We want to continue to enhance that and find other opportunities in community paramedicine, alternate pathways with mental health and addictions, and work with our partners in palliative and hospice care.”

“There’s a lot of opportunity out there for us,” said Mills.


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Jessica Owen

About the Author: Jessica Owen

Jessica Owen is an experienced journalist working for Village Media since 2018, primarily covering Collingwood and education.
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