Southern Manitoba ‘best of the worst’: paramedics’ union president

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The best of the worst is how paramedic numbers in Southern Manitoba are being described by their union.

“What I can say anecdotally is that it appears southern is the best of the worst. They’re still in a dire staffing situation, but not as bad as some of the other areas,” said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.

One of the reasons the paramedic situation is not as dire in the south, according to Linklater, is the possibility that the paramedics live with their families in the place where they work, making for a more stable situation when compared to other areas in the province.

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES 

Manitoba is in a paramedic crisis in rural areas of the province right now and the union and paramedic association is calling on the government to do something about it. Some of the reasons for rural staffing shortages include pay, burnout, and lack of supports.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Manitoba is in a paramedic crisis in rural areas of the province right now and the union and paramedic association is calling on the government to do something about it. Some of the reasons for rural staffing shortages include pay, burnout, and lack of supports.

Recently, it was reported that there was a paramedic crisis in western Manitoba where some emergency medical service stations weren’t sufficiently staffed. For example Shoal Lake had only one paramedic instead of the 13 that were required and Virden had just nine positions filled out of 17.

“The NDP government is abandoning rural Manitobans,” said Roblin MLA Kathleen Cook, PC critic for health. “Timely emergency care is a basic right, yet residents in western Manitoba are left wondering if an ambulance will even be available in an emergency. The NDP are putting lives at risk and we demand real leadership now.”

The PCs are demanding a comprehensive plan to expand primary care paramedic training opportunities outside of Winnipeg, which would create more accessible training options for rural and northern Manitoba enabling them to serve their local communities more effectively.

“So across the board we estimate there is over a 30 percent vacancy rate which translates to 150 to 200 vacancies across the province,’ said Linklater. “And I think the contributor here is, I know it sometimes comes up as a crisis messaging, but in this case this has been a crisis that has been ongoing since 2021.”

Linklater noted the province’s paramedics were without a contract for six years and when they finally got one, it was in effect for eight months and now they are again without a contract for the past nine-and-a-half months.

“Really we’ve slipped into the exact same situation that we were in with the previous government.”

Other factors at play in rural communities, according to the Paramedic Association of Manitoba, is burnout especially in areas paramedics work an on-call shift after a full 12-hour work day, lack of supports for psychological injuries when compared to the City of Winnipeg, and lower pay than the City of Winnipeg paramedics which draws rural paramedics into the city.

“It was such a big discussion at election time so have they forgotten or have they struggled to find the appropriate measures to increase staffing? I don’t know, but from our purview nothing has really changed and nothing has really improved,” said Rebecca Clifton, administrative director with the Paramedic Association of Manitoba.

“Was it just an election pawn or what can be done to improve the working lives of the existing paramedics and get more paramedics in the system? That was supposed to happen well over a year ago, right? And net seven paramedics (that graduated this year) I guess it’s a start but its surely not sufficient.”

The response from Shared Health said it will take time to reverse the situation currently experienced by paramedics.

“The Manitoba government has made a renewed commitment to address staffing shortages in healthcare, with an investment of more than $16 million last spring to expand job opportunities for paramedics, make jobs more attractive to candidates and improve patient care,” said a spokesperson.

Linklater echoed Clifton’s remarks about pay and supports. He recommended rotating training programs in satellite locations like Portage la Prairie and Winkler to attract people from those areas into being paramedics. He also suggested that tuition be paid for by the government as it is for advanced care paramedics and that bursaries should be created, recruitment in schools in rural areas should be done, and Manitoba should be competitive compared to other provinces.

“The other thing is, and I’ve said this a few times and I firmly believe this, you cannot recruit your way out of a retention crisis. And we do have a retention crisis here in Manitoba.

“What that means (is) that the working conditions that people are in are not tenable. There needs to be tangible things done to make people’s work life better and they’re not doing that.

“It is still something I hear about every single day that paramedics working conditions have zero flexibility with their work lives and it’s not something that people are willing to endure for the length of time with the lack of staffing that’s been there.”

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