Paramedic shortages looming

A shortage of paramedics can be added to the list of people’s concerns about rural health care.
Gary St. Onge owner and operator of Spiritwood/Big River Ambulance said they have enough advanced care paramedics (ACPs) right now —but that can change.
“If you don’t have ACPs you can’t provide advanced life support systems. Certainly you know with the shutdown of rural hospitals – our hospital here is shut down … so obviously the higher the level of care we can provide, the better it is for the population we serve,” he said.
The skills for advanced care paramedics were developed to help in rural areas, but that’s not where they tend to stay, St. Onge said.
“You know a lot of them are working in the cities and some of them are even working in hospital facilities, so trying to bring that level of employee to a rural centre is problematic. We certainly have sufficient ACP paramedics here now, but it’s tough to recruit them.”
While the shortages can most easily be found in rural communities, cities are not immune.
In the City of Prince Albert, Parkland Ambulance is continuing to look for new recruits.
“We are certainly in an active recruitment role at Parkland Ambulance and we have been since early this summer as we try to retain more of our casual staff, more of our part-time staff and continue to build a stronger base,” said Lyle Karasiuk, public affairs officer with Parkland Ambulance.
The union for paramedics, the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan, recently came forward to point out that these shortages can impact patient care. In some areas in the province the decreased number have led to longer response time, said a press release from the association.
HSAS is calling on the government to follow up on the 19 recommendations from last year’s emergency medical service review.
ahill@panow.com