Extra projects straining paramedic capacity, says ambulance operator

Recent staff losses have made it difficult for Medavie Health Services, P.E.I.'s ambulance operator, to continue to provide all the services it has been, says the company's VP of operations.

In addition to operating the ambulances, paramedics on P.E.I. have been assigned to the emergency at Prince County Hospital, the collaborative emergency care centre in Alberton, the mobile mental health teams program, providing palliative care, and at COVID-19 testing sites.

But it is not feasible to simply pull the paramedics out of those services, said Medavie VP Matthew Crossman. 

"Those programs are extremely beneficial to the overall system and they do actually help reduce the overall call volume," said Crossman, noting the mobile mental health program has reduced mental health calls by 60 per cent.

"We have to work with our system partners, the Department of Health and Health P.E.I., to make sure we're functioning as a team — and that's what we're doing in these cases. Ideally we wouldn't have our staff, you know, working in those areas."

Code critical

In the legislature Thursday, two Opposition MLAs said they have been getting calls from paramedics where there is a code critical on the Island. That's when there are no ambulances available for all or part of the Island.

"At 11:30 a.m. today there were no ambulances available on P.E.I. and there were calls pending," said Liberal MLA Rob Henderson.

Green MLA Michele Beaton said she is also getting calls.

"I do have a code critical today. Mine's for 11:03," said Beaton.

"That's concerning because that just shows how long we had no ambulances available."

Until recently, Medavie had been able to cover all those services, but it recently lost some paramedics who left for higher-paying jobs in western Canada, Crossman said. The company currently has vacancies for six paramedics on the Island.

Those vacancies are a concern.

"It has, I guess, raised alarms for us to start to look at some of the different programs we have in place and to make sure that the fundamentals are in place," said Crossman.

"We're not asking for these additional programs. We're helping as a system partner."

Medavie has recently asked for the last of its paramedics to be pulled from COVID-19 testing sites. There had been as many as 10 working there. There are now two.

This problem is not unique to P.E.I., said Crossman. Filling ambulance shifts is an issue across Canada and even in Europe, he said.