Paramedics ‘feeling neglected’: Moroz

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This article was published 09/06/2022 (1364 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Excessive overtime, staffing shortages and “neglected” employees have led to lengthy response times and a crisis among Westman paramedics, according to a local professional.

Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, has heard the word “burnout” used a lot to describe the situation involving emergency medical service workers, but says that doesn’t describe what he has been hearing from paramedics.

“They are feeling neglected by the employer and as if they’re being taken advantage of because no matter how many times we try to explain it to decision-makers in government, nothing seems to be working,” he said.

Prairie Mountain Health has 215 paramedics in the region, and another 48 working out of the Medical Transportation Co-ordination Centre. Just 64 paramedics, who are cross-trained as firefighters, belong to Brandon Fire and Emergency Services and operate the two available ambulances.

EMS in Brandon, through a status-management program instilled by Shared Health, are often called to surrounding areas.

The program’s model uses predictive deployment to send EMS resources as needed throughout a region, according to a Shared Health spokesperson.

“This model provides zone coverage of health regions, positioning ambulances strategically so overall response times for patients throughout the region can be more timely,” the spokesperson said.

In many cases, however, that means calls from Brandon, and the rest of the province, can experience lengthy waits.

“I don’t believe there’s been a day in years where every single ambulance in this province has been staffed because of staffing shortages,” Moroz said.

The data has “dried up,” but Moroz claims response times for ambulances continue to rise.

Ninety per cent of priority one to three calls — dead on arrival/trauma/CPR, emergency, non-emergency — in Prairie Mountain Health could wait up to 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, according to a media release issued by the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals last December.

The standard, Moroz said, is no more than 30 minutes.

“It is not uncommon, at all, for very serious calls to be waiting over the 30-minute threshold,” he said.

A goal set out in 2013 by regional health authorities was to respond to emergency calls in no more than 30 minutes and establish new rapid response time targets between nine to 15 minutes in rural and urban areas.

Those goals were never attained and, bolstered by the COVID-19 pandemic, have worsened.

“Our paramedics are saying ‘there is no way we can even pretend that we know we’re going to meet these goals,’” Moroz said.

“The reason they’re not close is Shared Health is absolutely unable to have enough paramedics in our system in order to even begin seeing improvement.”

While estimates have been made in recent years, Moroz said hundreds of paramedics are needed to fufil the response-time goals that were made in 2013.

Staff shortages not only point to longer wait times, but a crisis among paramedics working excessive overtime.

Shared Health said data on overtime is not readily available.

The region has 31 full-time and term positions open but is having a hard time recruiting new faces.

Shared Health recently established a centralized team with two recruitment co-ordinators to draw in EMS personnel from all disciplines, including paramedics, according to a spokesperson.

But paramedics are breaking down now, Moroz said, and they are starting to quit.

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better, unless Shared Health gives some sort of an idea that it’s doing something to [alleviate the issue].”

Moroz has not seen a plan from Shared Health to date, but said he has repeatedly advocated for increased training opportunities in Brandon and rural areas so the 29 per cent vacancy rate in Prairie Mountain Health could dwindle.

“Unless you’re in those communities with training programs, it’s very difficult to recruit young people,” he said.

Winnipeg is expected to have up to six hiring cycles a year for paramedics, which Moroz thinks will be a draw for young professionals in rural areas.

“The wages are higher and the travel distance is less when you’re in Winnipeg than when you’re on the highway. It has to be two-fold. You have to pay them properly, you have to treat them properly and you have to have enough of them so you aren’t harming the people who are left behind by having them work too hard.”

“There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. This has become the norm, and that’s harming our members.”

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