Paramedic recruitment and retention is going to be crucial in 2024, says the chief paramedic.
In the coming year, Jean Carriere, chief paramedic for the Cochrane District EMS, said 20 paramedics are needed.
During a Town of Cochrane council meeting in November, Carriere said while retirements and the fact that every paramedic service in Ontario is currently hiring were two substantial reasons for the region's current shortages. PTSD and mental health were other significant factors.
RELATED: Mental health among top causes of local paramedic staffing shortages
“Another thing that I'd love to see for 2024 is really growing our paramedic family. We need more staff. We have such potential with the people that work here, but physically we can only put in so many hours of work and we really need more people to be able to join our family and come and help us do more great things in our district,” Carriere told TimminsToday.
“We have a great district board that really supports the paramedic service and the work that we're doing but that's limited with the amount of people that we have. We have the opportunity to expand coverage on our 911 side, we have stations that are still on call at night, and if we had more staff we could provide on-site coverage during the evening.”
RELATED: 15 paramedics 'urgently' needed to meet demand in region
Call volumes in Timmins are continuing to increase, he said.
“But we were not able to add more staff just because we don't have them available. And also on our community paramedic side, we have the opportunity to expand our community paramedic program to help our smaller communities and to help with the homeless and outreach programs, but we just don't have the physical bodies to be able to help in being able to do that,” he said.
“I know that the staff that we do have that are currently working are going to take that on, but I think that we could be even more successful if we had more staff to help with that, and the amount that we need is at least 20 paramedics for 2024 and we have room for about 40. So, it's a significant amount of staff that we need and that we could welcome, but, you know, I think that we could continue to really grow if we could get at least 20 paramedics for 2024.”
RELATED: Paramedics see increase in calls district-wide
Their paramedics need a break, Carriere said.
“They're tired, they need a break, and they need some new faces around the table. We always welcome that to bring new ideas, but it's also about a great team and being innovative on how we can attract people to the district and make sure that the Cochrane District Paramedic Service is a great place to work and that people actually want to come here and stay here. So, I think there's a ton of opportunity for 2024,” he said.
