On May 1, a day dedicated to sharing our pride and gratitude for our first responders, CUPE Ontario and CUPE Ambulance Committee of Ontario (CACO) are honoured to pay tribute to the skill, compassion and professionalism of CUPE paramedics and dispatchers – the people who provide us with urgent and life-saving care when emergency strikes.
We also use this day to recommit our efforts to fighting for conditions that will allow these comrades to work safely and effectively to safeguard our health and safety.
When we look at the different groups who make up first responders, we see evidence of a dangerous trend that has developed over the years. Municipalities’ budgets for policing and firefighting have received major increases, while budgets for paramedic services have failed to keep up with the needs of local populations.
Our members save lives. They want to do more, but too often paramedics’ jobs are part-time and precarious. They and the services they offer are vital to people’s ability to survive medical emergencies. Residents deserve to have their urgent medical needs met by professionals who are equipped to give the best possible care.
That can’t happen when dispatchers must triage requests for urgent care and paramedics – experts in pre-hospital care – can’t get to a health emergency with enough time to provide critical urgent care.
These realities have led to paramedics and dispatchers suffering from high rates of stress and burnout, which have led in turn to a recruitment and retention crisis in the sector. These low levels of staffing have had a devastating impact on the health and safety of residents.
Far too many communities experience extended periods when there are no available ambulances; when delays in intakes in hospital emergency departments tie up paramedics; and when ambulances are understaffed and limited in providing the range of care that people need.
To ensure the best care for people in need of emergency assistance, we need to recruit more dispatchers and paramedics, and improve the pay and working conditions of those already working in the sector.
This can only come with greater levels of investment from both provincial and municipal governments. Improvements will happen when we have
- a provincial staffing strategy for emergency services
- more investment in first responders’ mental health
- permanent funding for an expanded community paramedicine program
- leadership from the province, which can and must increase funding for urgent care
Learn more about the issues facing first responder at 911 We Can’t Wait and resolve, as an act of solidarity, to hold Doug Ford’s Conservatives accountable for the state of our emergency services.
On May 1, it is one way to thank our first responders for the heroic work they perform every day.
