Leadership Team
Matthew Crossman
President and Chief Operating Officer
Matthew Crossman joined Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC) as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in January 2024. As COO, Matthew provides leadership and direction for the day-to-day operations of the EHS Ambulance Operations system in Nova Scotia (ground/air/medical communications), as well as 811 Telecare for both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
Since joining Medavie in 2007, Matthew has held multiple positions including his immediate past role as Vice President of Operations for Medavie Health Services (MHS). He has served as President and CEO of Ambulance New Brunswick and held extensive leadership roles at Island Emergency Medical Services and Medacom Atlantic.
As a Canadian executive leader with national experience in health care, mental health and addictions, tele-health, communications and public safety, Matthew has over 24 years of industry experience across North America. Matthew is a licensed paramedic and has a Bachelor of Healthcare Administration from Dalhousie and Executive Masters of Business Administration from the University of Fredericton. He also holds an executive leadership certification from the Rotman School of Management.
Paula Martell
Executive Director, Health Services, Risk Management and Compliance, TeleHealth, and LifeFlight Operations
Paula Martell is the Executive Director of Health Services, Risk Management and Compliance, Telehealth & LifeFlight Operations at EMC. Prior to assuming the role of Executive Director, Paula was Program Manager for EHS LifeFlight. Paula’s previous portfolio included Performance & Development; however, with recent corporate restructuring she is now responsible for a broad corporate portfolio covering clinical services and education, risk management, patient safety and compliance. As well, Paula is responsible for Health & Wellness portfolio and two operations Telehealth and LifeFlight.
Paula has over 37 years’ experience as a medical practitioner as both a registered nurse and former paramedic, highlighted with specialized training and experience in areas of critical care, pre-hospital care and air medical transport.
In addition to her comprehensive clinical training, Paula completed a Masters of Business Administration degree in 2009, which also included specialized certificates in Fundamentals of Business, Advanced Business Management, and Advanced Business Strategy.
Becky Mullowney
Executive Director, Finance
Rebecca (Becky) Mullowney joined EMC in 2016 as the Manager, Financial Planning and Reporting and was appointed as the Director, Finance in 2018. Becky is accountable for all financial functions, including leading financial management and reporting, overseeing budget preparation and support the Chief Operating Officer on matters related to financial effectiveness.
Becky spent six years with Grant Thornton LLP in Halifax working from Accountant to Manager of Assurance responsible for analyzing financial statements, planning and execution of year-end audit results, preparing and managing budgets. Becky has also been a National UFE Coordinator working to develop and teach internal preparation programs for CA candidates across Canada as well as managing marking teams for practice exams providing guidance and instruction.
Becky is an active volunteer in her community, currently as Treasurer and Executive Director of the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia. Becky has her Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Accounting from Saint Mary’s University. Becky is also a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Professional Accountant graduate of the Atlantic School of Chartered Accountancy (ASCA) in Halifax.
Dale Bartlett
Executive Director, System Support & Safety
Dale Bartlett has over 42 years of experience in Emergency Medical Service (EMS). Since he began his career in 1979, he has held many progressive positions. He started as a paramedic and ambulance service co-owner with Bartlett’s Ambulance Service, Truro. In 1995, as part of an EHS Regional Pilot Program (first centralized EMS Dispatch Centre), Dale also served as Communications Manager Northern EMS. He joined Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMC) during its inception in 1997 and since then, has served as Operation Supervisor and Regional Manager and Director as part of the Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services (EHS) system.
In 2008, as part of the Medavie EMS team, Dale led transition of the Prince Edward Island ambulance services system from privately owned services to a provincial system and served as the General Manager of Island EMS during this period. In 2009/10 also under Medavie EMS, he was part of the transition/amalgamation project team transitioning the private, municipal and hospital based ambulance services in New Brunswick into a provincial system. He was involved in acquisition, employee recruitment and training. He was the Operations Team Lead and Acting Director of Clinical Operations during the transition. In 2010, Dale was the Operation lead for the Medavie EMS Muskoka EMS service transition in Muskoka Ontario.
Dale is currently the Director of System Support and Safety with provincial responsibility for Fleet Services, Facilities, Procurement, the EHS Medical First Responder Program, the EHS AED Registry, Information Technology, Business Continuity and Provincial Scheduling.
Gordon Peckham
Vice President, Operations
Gordon joined the Canadian Forces in 1995 under a National Defence scholarship and completed his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Dalhousie University in 1999. He was posted to Canadian Forces Base Halifax, where he worked in various roles including medical-surgical inpatients, operations, immunization, and training with the Disaster Assistance Response Team. He completed his critical care course at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and worked in intensive care and the emergency department. Gordon was deployed to Bosnia as part of the Advanced Surgical Centre Team and to Sunnybrook during the 2003 SARS outbreak.
In 2004, he moved to Vancouver to join the Canadian Forces Trauma Training Centre, where he took on education, clinical and research roles. He was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2006 as a critical care nurse with the Multinational Medical Team. Gordon later served at Defense Research and Development Canada in Toronto, where he worked as a critical care nurse at Sunnybrook and was involved in civilian-military educational programs. He deployed to Kandahar again in 2008 and later served as a senior staff officer in Ottawa at the Canadian Forces Health Services Group Headquarters. He was deployed to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and helped develop the Mobile Surgical Resuscitation Team in support of Canadian Special Operations.
In Ottawa, Gordon earned a Master of Health Studies Leadership from Athabasca University and a Canadian Health Care Executive certification from the Canadian College of Health Leaders. He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Health Services Centre in Trenton, Ontario in 2012, and later assumed command of Canadian Forces Health Services Centre (Pacific) in Victoria in 2015. During this time, he completed fellowships in executive training and joint command and staff programs.
After retiring from the Canadian Forces in 2020, Gordon moved back to Nova Scotia. He joined EMC in 2023 following his role as Senior Director of Operations for Nova Scotia Health’s Care Coordination Centre, where he improved patient access and system efficiency. He previously led patient flow improvements as Director of Operations for Central Zone and Dartmouth General Hospital.
Lindsay Bertrand
Vice President, Strategy and System Performance
Lindsay is a proven healthcare leader who is passionate about improving health outcomes by leveraging innovative solutions, patient/clinician experience and delivering exemplary care to all Nova Scotians.
Lindsay brings 20 years of experience in healthcare at Nova Scotia Health/IWK Health serving as a Chief Clinical Information Officer. In this role, she has worked to advance technology-enabled practice and, as one member of a Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) triad, has worked on patient and clinician-centred readiness for One Person One Record (OPOR). This work has been informed by her background as a clinician.
A Registered Respiratory Therapist and Certified Clinical Anesthesia Assistant by training, she spent 15 years in front-line, patient-facing care, both as a clinician and as a manager at IWK Health. Additionally, Lindsay holds a Master of Health Informatics from the University of Waterloo.