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home / 世界杯决赛2022

'absolutely not sustainable': stretched ottawa paramedics are at the limit, says president

some paramedics have reported difficulty commuting to work as the "freedom convoy" protest continues in ottawa. those who live downtown say they have problems sleeping between shifts because of blaring horns and have sought accommodation with friends and family members outside the city core.

by joanne laucius

feb 2 2022
read time 3 minute read
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ottawa paramedics have been asked to provide their availability to work until the protest against covid-19 mandates that has converged in downtown ottawa is over, the president of the ottawa paramedic association said on tuesday.
“all paramedics have been asked to put in their availability for the front lines, even those who work in administrative positions,” said darryl wilton. in terms of how far into the future this may be, that has been open-ended.
paramedics are already stretched to the limit, said wilton.
“it is like putting a small town in the middle of a city. it has the usual medical needs. there are exposure injuries, people who fall on the ice,” he said.
“this is definitely an incident the city can’t sustain. layer covid on top of it and it’s absolutely not sustainable. when something like this happens, the house of cards starts to crumble.”
wilton said plans to staff the protest were not put into place almost until trucks were actually rolling into ottawa.
“we saw this coming like we knew covid was coming. there was not a lot of advance planning.”
meanwhile, paramedic vehicles from toronto and york region have been spotted on the scene. they are believed to be supporting police officers from toronto and york who were called in to assist at the demonstration, but their role has been unclear, said wilton.
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the unions representing paramedics are trying to get answers, but this is very rare, he said. the only time he can remember other paramedic services being called in was during the 2002 g8 demonstrations.
last week, the canadian union for public employees (cupe), which represents most ontario paramedics, called on the province to standardize mental health benefits for emergency medical services workers.
paramedics have struggled with a sharp increase in call volumes and lengthier offload delays at hospitals during the pandemic, said the union.
“we don’t have enough paramedics on a normal day,” said peter bleyer, the executive director of the civic institute of professional personnel (cipp) the union that represents about 3,000 municipal professionals in the ottawa region including paramedics at the superintendent level.
cipp has called on the city and all levels of government and police services to move quickly to end the protest, saying that last weekend has been “particularly disheartening for public health workers, paramedics and so many others who have been working flat out for two years to protect this community from covid-19.”
wilton said reports of racial slurs aimed at paramedics and rocks thrown at ambulances have been confirmed, but he has heard of no repeat incidents since the weekend.
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most problems have occurred on the fringes of the protest, he said. inside the core, the truckers themselves have been helpful to paramedic teams. “once you get inside the perimeter, people are very polite.”
some paramedics have reported difficulty commuting to work, said wilton. those who live downtown say they have problems sleeping between shifts because of blaring horns and have sought accommodation with friends and family members outside the city core.
“we have paramedics living on the quebec side who can’t get across the bridges.”
in a statement, pierre poirier, chief of the ottawa paramedic service, said the service remains committed to ensuring it can maintain essential services and meet operational demands during the protest.
“so far, a coordinated effort between the city, the ottawa police service and other emergency services has ensured that emergency lanes have been maintained which has allowed us to provide an uninterrupted service downtown and throughout the city,” said poirier.
staffing levels have been increased for the duration of the demonstration to ensure the service can provide care for residents of the downtown core and those participating in the demonstration, he said.

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ottawa paramedics have encountered incidents of harassment while performing their duties from those participating in the demonstration. the ottawa police service is the lead agency for the demonstration and paramedic services is working with police to keep things safe, said poirier.
 
joanne laucius
joanne laucius

joanne laucius has worked at the citizen since 1989, and has won awards for reporting on health, science, history and farming. she also likes to write about dogs.

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