Health Sciences Centre ER desperate for staff, paramedics to fill gaps
Health Sciences Centre ER desperate for staff, paramedics to fill gaps
Health Sciences Centre ER desperate for staff, paramedics to fill gaps
Paramedics will be supplementing emergency department staffing at Manitoba’s largest hospital, a direct result of an ongoing nursing shortage.
On Monday Dr. Shawn Young, COO of Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, confirmed that this may be the way it works going forward inside the hospital.
“They’re an excellent resource to be able to help staff and support the emergency work,” said Young. “Working in triage, working in resuscitation, they have the skill sets and the tools to be able to provide that service exceptionally well.”
Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew said using paramedics to supplement the HSC emergency room, which is the provincial hospital, is concerning.
“This was created by the cuts and closures that we have seen from the PCs over the past few years in healthcare,” Kinew told CTV News. “And it just seems like Manitobans are constantly being asking to accept these stop-gap, temporary measures as the new normal.”
A Shared Health spokesperson told CTV News while no paramedics were available to work in HSC's emergency department, the practice of using paramedics to support ER staffing has been used at multiple sites.
Young said this has already been routine practice in other facilities in Manitoba, including at Grace Hospital, but this past weekend was the first time off-duty paramedics were asked to work at the HSC emergency department.
Even before the pandemic, Young said HSC Winnipeg was looking at a partnership with paramedics so the hospital wasn’t so heavily dependent on the nursing resources.
“We have had a nursing shortage for quite some time. This is because of the nursing shortage,” he said.
Young did not know how frequently paramedics will be working in the HSC emergency department and added this is the opportunity to make a partnership between paramedics happen more permanently.
“I don’t know what those schedules will look like. The weekends are definitely an opportunity for us because that is when some of the trauma is at its worst and some of our needs are at its greatest,” Young said.
Ryan Woiden, the president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union Local 911, is concerned about paramedic burnout, and spreading the profession too thin inside and outside of Winnipeg.
"There are only so many paramedics in the province and you have places they all have to be," Woiden said. "Offering another place for them to work doesn't exactly… it certainly leaves me slightly concerned when we haven't heard what the plan is."
Young said this would not impact paramedic services, as the paramedics would not be on duty as a paramedic at the same time they would be working in the ER. The Shared Health spokesperson said paramedics have a professional obligation to ensure they are fit for work, meaning they cannot accept additional shifts they believe may impact their jobs.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent in July, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices. The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed.
The next time the Bank of Canada raises interest rates on the scheduled date of September 7, 2022, it could potentially trigger a recession. Although there may be a chance that we don’t enter into a recession and the BoC is still hoping for a soft landing, it’s best to be prepared. Contributor Christopher Liew explains how.
Massive explosions and fires hit a military depot in Russia-annexed Crimea on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people, the second time in recent days that the Ukraine war's focus has turned to the peninsula.
One-quarter of front line employees surveyed at Canada's border agency said they had directly witnessed a colleague discriminate against a traveller in the previous two years.
Minister of Families, Children and Social Development of Canada Karina Gould is discouraging people from making fake travel plans just to skip the line of those waiting for passports.
Two of the people behind an accusation of political interference in the investigation of the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia will be before a House of Commons committee Tuesday.
Some energy experts warn a deal to sell Canadian hydrogen to Germany will serve as only a small, far-off and expensive part of the solution to Europe's energy crisis.
While many Canadians don’t support moving away from the metric system of measurement, many continue to use imperial measurements in their daily lives, according to a recent online poll.
The fatal film-set shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin last year was an accident, according to a determination made by New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator following the completion of an autopsy and a review of law enforcement reports. The medical investigator's report was made public Monday by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office along with numerous reports from the FBI on the revolver and ammunition that were collected following the shooting.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent in July, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices. The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed.
A Regina-born actor will be making her superhero debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) this week, playing the lead role in "She Hulk: Attorney at Law"
Lisa LaFlamme is leaving CTV News. The network announced today that the Chief Anchor and Senior Editor is departing after more than 30 years with the company.
A 72-year-old downtown Sudbury businessman has entered the pool of candidates running for mayor in the City of Greater Sudbury, bringing the number of contenders to nine.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent in July, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices. The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed.
City council approved a $15.2 million investment to fund a joint dispatch centre in Chinatown, with some hoping the province would help pick up the tab.
Toronto Pearson International Airport has shown signs of improvements in recent weeks, but a traveller and aviation expert says he was disheartened to see 'mountains' of bags and triple stacked security lines at the airport over the weekend.
The Ontario government says forest fires have dwindled dramatically this year compared with last year, when fires tore through a record amount of land in the province.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent in July, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices. The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed.
Quebec health authorities are launching another COVID-19 booster vaccination campaign on Monday, targeting people living in CHSLDs and private seniors' residences (RPAs). The recommended interval between baseline vaccination and a first booster dose is three months or more, while the suggested interval between each subsequent booster dose is five months or more.
Unionized bus drivers say children may have difficulty getting to school once the academic year starts if the Quebec government continues to refuse to increase funding.
With one week to go before the start of the new school year, the CSQ is concerned that some CEGEPs will be unable to offer certain services and even some courses due to a lack of staff.
Canada's year-over-year inflation rate slowed to 7.6 per cent in July, with the deceleration largely driven by a decline in gas prices. The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed.
An Ottawa family has adopted two beagles that were among thousands freed from a facility in Virginia that was breeding them so they could be sold for drug experiments.
A proposed correctional facility in Kemptville, Ont. has some residents concerned about how it might change the look of their small town and they are taking steps to prevent it from happening.
The Saint John Police Force says skeletal remains found in a remote area of the city’s east end Friday belong to 32-year-old Kyle Richard Leblanc, who was reported missing in December of 2020.
Two of the people behind an accusation of political interference in the investigation of the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia will be before a House of Commons committee Tuesday.
At about noon, Colchester County District RCMP responded to a report of a man exposing himself after approaching two children on a trail behind an elementary school on Salmon River Road.
A Vancouver couple was in awe and a bit scared during an hours-long encounter with a whale on B.C.'s Central Coast, much of which they captured on video.
A fishing boat that sank with nearly 10,000 litres of fuel on board near the Canada-U.S. marine border went down in one of the worst possible places for endangered orcas, an ocean pollutants expert says. Peter Ross, a senior scientist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation, said the vessel sank in an important feeding area for endangered southern resident killer whales.
The daughters of a 60-year-old Vancouver Island man who was found dead in his home in 2019 are suing the Correctional Service of Canada, claiming negligent prison officials allowed two men to escape from a minimum-security penitentiary and murder their father.
The man accused of killing Nanaimo, B.C., teenager Makayla Chang in 2017 has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Steven Bacon entered the guilty plea in a Nanaimo, B.C., courtroom Monday afternoon.
