Advanced care paramedics want access to health system

Advanced care paramedics say Premier Brian Gallant's election promise to allow them to work in the province is so far lip service.

There are 63 licensed advanced care paramedics in New Brunswick, but right now they're only allowed to work as primary care paramedics.

"I truly cannot even begin to imagine why it's taking so long," said Kyle Enright, a trained advanced care paramedic working in Miramichi.

"Every other province and territory has been doing it for 20 plus years and New Brunswick for some reason can't seem to put this system in place."

New Brunswick is the last province or territory without advanced care paramedics.  

Before Gallant was elected premier, he sent out a press release on July 23, 2014 that stated allowing advanced care paramedics to work in the province is "a no-brainer for our health care system."

The premier also said his government would "immediately direct Ambulance New Brunswick to amend its contracts."

When asked for comment, Bruce Macfarlane, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said, "This particular issue is still going through government."

Broken promises

​The Paramedics Association of New Brunswick said for the last eight years, three governments have promised to integrate advanced care paramedics into the health care system.

• Paramedics want advanced care training recognized

"There is obviously something that is preventing this from being rolled out," said Chris Hood, the association's executive director.

"I don't see any hope in the future and I think a lot paramedics are losing hope on this file."  

Hood said New Brunswick is actually the last jurisdiction in North America without these specialized paramedics, he said this is a disadvantage for patients. 

"Advanced care paramedics can actually give you the medication that the hospital would be giving you, only in a much earlier process and therefore alleviating or reversing symptoms," said Hood.

While Hood said the province does have one of the best primary care paramedic systems in Canada, those paramedics can only administer seven or eight drugs to help treat a patient. 

He said the types of medications and the skills advanced care paramedics can administer are vast. 

"We're talking about thing like inserting breathing tubes into somebody's throat, it is very complex and done in a surgical capacity," said Hood. 

Frustration is building

For most licensed advanced care paramedics working in the province there is a sense of increased frustration.

"You know exactly what it is they [the patients] need to reduce their suffering, or exactly what they need to increase their chances of survival," said Enright a licensed ACP since 2006.

"But you know you're not allowed to do it."

"I have to take that home with me every night after work, knowing that this person didn't get the care that they really needed," he said. 

Enright took his advanced care paramedic training in Moncton. 

"That's just another strange thing about this, we train them right here in New Brunswick and then we send them off to other provinces and other territories to do their job because we just don't let them work here," he said.  

Saving money

Hood said allowing these advanced care paramedics to work in New Brunswick could save the province millions in reduced hospital stays.

"From a net cost to the health care system and the potential that these people won't be contributing as much to society from a taxation perspective, there's a net savings of $12 million annually," said Hood.    
  
In that July 2014 statement, Gallant agreed these paramedics would save the province money.

He also called out the Progressive Conservative government at the time for "an unfortunate example of mismanagement and neglect ... the government has dragged its feet for four years to the detriment of patient outcomes and the province's bottom line."