Jeff Watts was once asked by a doctor he was working with why he decided to become a paramedic. He found he wasn’t able to come up with a clear answer, so he decided to poll a group of other career paramedics.
"Every single one of them gave the same answer: ‘It's just what I always knew I was going to do,’” Jeff says. “I realized that’s the answer and that’s the one I’ve given ever since.
Jeff recently retired from BC Emergency Health Services after fifty years of service with the organization. Over the course of his career, he’s seen huge changes in the practice of paramedicine and in how ambulance service is delivered in BC. In addition to his work as a frontline paramedic, he started the Highschool First Responder program in the Lower Mainland, which has given thousands of students the opportunity to learn first aid skills. Many graduates of these programs have gone onto careers in health care, including at BCEHS.
One day, Jeff would become the person who gave many high school students their first real introduction to paramedicine. For him, the road to becoming a paramedic also started when he was still in high school. Jeff grew up on the westside of Vancouver, where he took part in a Venturer Company that was part of Scouts Canda and was sponsored by Metropolitan Ambulance Service.
Through this group, Jeff was trained in mountain rescue and helped teach rescue techniques to ambulance attendants, as paramedics were called at the time. Jeff had been accepted to go to medical school in the UK, but he decided to take the training course for paramedics, and it soon became clear to him that paramedicine was his real calling.
Two weeks after he started working as a paramedic in Vancouver, Jeff responded to a shooting at the Jericho Youth Hostel. One of the victims was in critical condition with a severe facial injury. Jeff and his partner were able to get the patient to the hospital in time for him to have surgery and survive. As challenging as the call was, Jeff rose to the occasion when it mattered most, and he knew he’d found the career he was meant to have.
With a career that’s spanned almost the entire history of the provincial ambulance service, Jeff has seen many big changes to how emergency care is delivered in BC. These include the inclusion of women in a profession that was once almost exclusively male, the creation of the specialized Infant Transport Team and the introduction of power stretchers.
Jeff was also there for the creation of a new paramedic license level – advanced care paramedic. Advanced care paramedics have additional, specialized training with a focus on advanced cardiac resuscitation. They typically respond to more complex and challenging calls with more critically ill and injured patients. Jeff became an advanced care paramedic in 1988, thirteen years into his career as a paramedic. He went on to work as a supervisor: a senior paramedic who helps crews respond to particularly acute and difficult incidents.
When asked his favorite part of being a paramedic, Jeff doesn’t hesitate: “Being part of a team.”
“Do I like helping people? Absolutely. Do I like learning things? Absolutely. But working as a part of team is number one,” he says. “That team may only be two people, you and your partner, but a lot of times it includes fire, police, the hospital staff. You’re working as part of team to accomplish this great objective.”
With decades of frontline service, Jeff has touched the lives of countless patients, but he’s also left an incomparable legacy in the classroom through the High School First Responder program.
Jeff got the idea for the program after a local teacher in Richmond invited him to give a guest lecture in her health sciences class. Several of the students were interested in learning more about paramedicine and that gave Jeff the idea to develop a program that would introduce students to first aid and the skills needed to be a first responder.
The High School First Responder program developed to include a first aid training course through the Red Cross. Over the years, many students have also had the opportunity to go on ride alongs with BCEHS crews.
The program started at a single school in Richmond and is now offered in 35 schools, including all Richmond secondary schools. Jeff runs the program on his own time with support from community groups. BCEHS offers a separate group of programs for young people called Youth Pathways. Jeff also continues to be involved with Scouts Canada, including the MedVents program.
Over the years, more than 6,000 students have gone through the High School First Responder program. Many of these students have gone onto careers in health care as paramedics, nurses, doctors, and in at least one case, a midwife.
Today, there are a number of leaders at BCEHS who got their introduction to paramedicine in the High School First Responder program, including Katryna Bowland-Kwok, Clinical Operations Director for Vancouver Coastal South.
"Jeff and the First Responder program have had a profound impact on my life,” says Katryna. “Through his guidance, I found clarity and direction in my career path. Jeff’s passion for the profession and his unwavering support were instrumental in my decision to become a paramedic. His influence continues to inspire me every day."
In February 2025, Jeff was honoured for his 50 years of service to BCEHS at a small ceremony in Vancouver. Paramedic Public Information Officer Brian Twaites emceed. While a number of current paramedics met Jeff when they were still in high school, Brian and Jeff have an even longer history – Jeff was a counsellor at Camp Howdy, which Brian and his brothers attended as children. Jeff went on to be Brian’s scout leader – a number of other current and former paramedics were also members of Jeff’s troop over the years.
“You’ve touched thousands of peoples’ lives in your role as a paramedic, you’ve also helped inspire many youths into careers in health care,” Brian said at the beginning of the ceremony.
A clipping from the Vancouver Sun details how Jeff and his partner saved the life a baby who was choking on a piece of plastic, just one of countless lives Jeff touched in his career.
Jeff officially retired shortly after his fifty-year ceremony. He will continue his work with the High School First Responder program, so he’s not planning a leisurely retirement just yet.
As he looks back on his career and the careers of so many colleagues, mentors and mentees he’s worked with over the years, Jeff wants to remind the public not to forgot about the sacrifices made by paramedics in their service of the public.
“These people are putting their lives and their bodies on the line every single day,” he says. “What they're doing is not convenient. It’s not comfortable. It can be hazardous. Who took all those people to the hospital during COVID? Did they do it as safely as possible? They did, but they still put their lives at risk. So, when you see a paramedic, say thank you.”
