May 17th to 23rd is Emergency Medical Services Week and the union that represents nearly 900 paramedics throughout the province says the occasion is a chance to both salute the vital health care professionals whose job it is to help save lives day-in and day- out, and to call for improvements to a system that can often mean the difference between life and death.
“We’re proud to know that we in Manitoba are served by some of the most highly trained and hardest working paramedics in the country,” said MGEU President Peter Olfert. “Our emergency medical response times are second to none in Canada. But every day, these paramedics are working under incredibly stressful and under-resourced conditions.”
Lack of adequate funding has ramifications throughout the entire EMS system. When it comes to equipment, for instance, increasingly paramedics are expected to do more with less. At the same time, staffing shortages can mean some paramedics are working 24-hours straight just to keep ambulance services open.
“Because the system remains so under-resourced, it becomes very difficult for any kind of strategic province-wide planning to occur,” said Olfert. “Right now, every RHA approaches EMS in a kind of piece-meal fashion, and our paramedics tell us that this is one of the key obstacles keeping our system from being the best it can be.”
Today, a lack of province-wide coordination means there is no provincial EMS human resource planning or accountability standards. According to Eric Glass, Chair of the Paramedic Association of Manitoba, the lack of coordination creates real problems for the profession.
“Paramedics are health care professionals with a very specialized body of knowledge,” said Glass. “Yet as the system is currently set up, our credentials are not even transferable from region to region here in Manitoba.”
Glass said that with adequate funding and coordination, paramedics could easily go beyond providing the traditional response and transport service. “We could play a significant role in easing emergency department backlogs and staff shortages, and providing mobile health services.”
For Chris Broughton, President of MGEU Local 911 and a paramedic in Winnipeg, educating the public about EMS is another key ingredient to creating a better system.
“I’m really proud of what I do, but sometimes it’s frustrating, because people seem to forget we’re dealing with critical situations. I know everyone is busy, but there is no excuse for not pulling over when you hear the siren, or for speeding past a stopped ambulance. We need to remind people that if they were the one needing critical care, they’d want everyone else to do their part and yield to the emergency vehicle.”
Olfert said the union will continue to try and do their part in educating Manitobans about what we can all do to help our paramedics provide the most effective and efficient service possible.
“Our union is proud to represent the dedicated and quick-thinking men and women who are there for Manitobans at their time of greatest need. These professionals save lives under the most trying of circumstances.”