(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Frontline workers

The changing face of paramedics: pandemic prompts evolution in safeguards as employees feel the stress

Dec 31, 2020 | 3:00 PM

Paramedics, like so many others in the medical field, may be behind layers of personal protective equipment (PPE), but they are meeting the challenges of the global pandemic face-first.

According to Director of Public Affairs with Parkland Ambulance in Prince Albert, Lyle Karasiuk, advancements in equipment and protocols have evolved quickly and there are likely further changes afoot, even as employees deal with their own stresses around being such an important emergency response service.

Like everyone else in the province, paramedics are now more restricted than ever in what they can and cannot do, but there’s an added hard-hitting reality to their job that’s impossible for them to ignore.

“Our team is faced every single day with dealing with a patient who potentially is COVID positive or maybe in fact COVID positive,” Karasiuk told paNOW.

“All of our staff are constantly washing, cleaning, changing from layers of PPE between calls, between patients that they care for, and that itself is taking a toll on them.”

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He added there are steps to go through after each call and if they miss a step they could potentially still be contaminated and therefore take the virus home with them.

“They’ve been so good at adapting to the constant changes because as we know there’s no rule book on COVID,” he explained.

Karasiuk said when they go on a call they would normally wear gloves and eye protection but now they add procedure masks, which are worn in their facility at all times, sealed eye protection such as anti-fog goggles, face shields and gowns.

Prior to COVID, paramedics may have donned a gown once in a while (like for out of hospital births), but now every single call requires the use of these layers of PPE and gowns that are constantly changed.

Previously they would be cleaning equipment regularly but now there are extra detailed steps which add to the pressures of the job.

“Now they’re doing details they’re trying to mentally remember ‘what did I touch?’ because every time you open a cupboard and move something that’s a point of possible contamination. So it has changed how we compartmentalize equipment.”

Because of the extra steps, the process during each call takes longer so they’ve had to hire more staff. An average 12 hour shift for their team is 20 calls. Some days they’ve handled 40 calls.

Karasiuk said ensuring mental health procedures and the regular monitoring of employees has been part of their professional advancement and has kept them strong heading into a pandemic that may have many more months to run.

The future

A firefighter wears turnout gear while on duty to protect themselves from possible hazards and Karasiuk thinks in the future there could be something similar for paramedics to add to their own uniforms and “will be the natural progression of the industry as a whole.”

When a crew is doing 20 calls in a day that’s 20 times they would have to change their uniforms which is not practical, although they do spray disinfectant on their clothing.

“I think our industry needs to find something, I don’t know what that something is,” he said adding gowns will protect from certain things but they don’t cover every part of the body.

He also doesn’t think their staff will ever move away from wearing a mask, even post-pandemic. He also doesn’t think they’ll move on from certain processes or protocols they’ve put in place to add extra layers of disinfection.

But ultimately he stresses this is still a ‘people profession’; paramedics can’t work remotely and continue to embrace their huge responsiblity of being on the front line.

“Our faces, albeit hidden in PPE, show sadness, compassion and smiles each and every day. You and your loved ones are entrusted to our care. As we sometimes urgently pull away from your home, please be confident we are giving your loved one 110% of our best care. “

Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @princealbertnow