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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Bob Cole, veteran CBC broadcaster and former voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' dead at 90
Bob Cole, legendary CBC broadcaster and former voice of Hockey Night in Canada, has died. He was 90.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.