Burnout, lack of staff and increased levels of service have forced the Ambulance Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of BC (APBC) to call for help.
It’s an issue that effects not only the staff, but those who are in need of their services according to CUPE 8-7-3 President Cameron Eby.
“It’s reached what we’re characterizing as an unprecedented level which is of course going to impact response times all over.”
The Okanagan and Kootenay areas have been experiencing significant out of service rates this past week as well as the three ambulance dispatch centers located throughout the province according to APBC’s March 19, 2019 press release.
Eby says the lack of employees is creating a snowball effect for the services their members offer in larger cities.
“We got the jobs there but the workload level is so high and there are a number of unfilled full time positions,” Eby explains. “And those contribute to people being burnt out and fatigued due to workload levels.”
This sometimes results in people not being able to report for shifts, resulting in an increased workload for those who do.
The problem persists in smaller communities with populations fewer than 15,000.
“There just isn’t good paying jobs there to attract qualified paramedics. So there’s a significant recruitment problem.”
Mental health factors in the strain on service as well. According to APBC, a recent survey administered to paramedic organizations across the country by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that 81% of paramedics and dispatchers in B.C. report they feel that BC Emergency Health Services does not monitor compassion fatigue and burnout, while the majority feel they do not have an appropriate balance of call volume to recovery time.
“When you’re dealing with serious, life threatening situations and they’re one after another, it’s very hard on the responders and the paramedics and the dispatchers involved.” Eby illustrates. “You eventually lose that ability to look at the situation from a human pint of view and that can have really bad implications for first responders.”
Eby calls for a number of changes including better paying jobs in remote communities and to fill the vacancies that exist in larger city centers. As of right now, the workload levels are ‘Unsustainable.’