GUELPH POLITICAST #Repeat - The Ongoing Paramedic Stress

It happened again on the August long weekend. Offload delays at the Guelph General Hospital created some long line-ups for ambulances, and a couple of days before that there was another Code Red. The story has been repeating itself for over a year now, too many ambulances lined up at the hospital and not enough available in the community, but how do the paramedics themselves feel about the pressure they're under?

Earlier this year, we were joined by Nick Di Ruzza, who was the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 231. This is the union that represents the paramedic workers for Guelph and Wellington County, and they've been under a lot of the same pressures that all other medical workers have been under these last three years. As reported, paramedics have done 9,400 hours of overtime in the last year.

So the burnout is real, but there are other pressures on the service beyond the hours. A joint meeting of the Guelph and Wellington councils back in June, covered how many paramedic stations across the region where not meeting the needs of the service, especially the ones out in the county. So while there's pressure on paramedics to do the job, we're also falling short in our support of paramedics when they get back to the station.

Back in February though, we talked to Di Ruzza about what a day in the life of a paramedic looks like, and the Paramedics Services’ success despite their challenges. He will tell us about the human resources issues his local is trying to overcome, and how paramedics approach standards of care beyond answering emergency calls. Later, he will discuss the problems around doing advocacy on behalf of paramedics, support from management and what the community can all do to help.

So let's hear again the paramedic perspective on this week's repeat of the Guelph Politicast!

You can follow OPSEU Local 231 on Twitter. Guelph Wellington Paramedic Services Chief Stephen Dewar has been delivering a monthly report about the demands on the service at the Wellington County Social Services Committee Meeting, and the next one’s in March. To learn more about our local paramedic service, you can find them under the “Living” section of the City of Guelph website or on Twitter.

All new episodes of the Guelph Politicast return next week!

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