PARAMEDICS AND EMRS DESERVE BETTER

We owe a debt of gratitude to all essential workers who carried us through the pandemic but none more so than the paramedics and emergency medical responders (EMRS) in the emergency management service and more particularly those who serve in the rural ambulance service.

I worked part time in that sector for a short time after retiring from a second career. I have no issues with the company I worked for as those I met in operations and human resources were all professional, competent individuals who were dedicated to their profession.

I know if they spoke they would agree that rural paramedics and EMRS are woefully underpaid for the important work they do. It pains me to see these essential first responders have to resort to job action in order to garner a living wage. They work under an onerous shift system that pays them far less than the actual hours they work.

I never fully understood how this was allowed under current labour law. It was not something I experienced in sectors I worked in, or any others that I was exposed to.

Before joining, I was under the faulty assumption that rural paramedics and health care authority paramedics were being paid on par with other first responders like the police and fire department but sadly they receive less than half that made by their counterparts.

This is a wrong that should be made right.

By any measure the work of paramedics and EMRS is essential to our health care system. The requirements are extremely rigorous, so it’s not an undertaking or a career choice to be taken lightly.

I signed up to learn from the best.

I wanted the hands-on experience that can only be acquired by joining an ambulance crew and working alongside experienced paramedics and EMRS.

I watched and learned from my colleagues how to provide appropriate and compassionate care to those most vulnerable, weak and afraid. Those that I worked with demonstrated strong leadership skills and the ability to perform complex lifesaving functions in extremely stressful crisis situations where a mistake can mean the difference between life and death.

Their work included administering IV fluids, injections, medications and performing advanced respiratory procedures as well as treating wounds, performing CPR, delivering babies, and performing patient assessments. They study anatomy and physiology, and train in advanced life support, advanced pediatric life support and basic trauma life support.

The requirements to be a paramedic are arduous and those who choose that career should be fairly compensated.

The dedication exhibited by paramedics and EMRS should not be the impetus for underpaying them.

Government must insist that all paramedics and EMRS be paid a fair wage commensurate with their training, experience and responsibilities.

Put them on par with other first responders in this province.

J.g.lynch

Goulds