More paramedics on the horizon

Shannon Rose

Paramedics in Quebec are hard to come by, and wait times can be exceedingly long. “There has been a shortage of paramedics for quite awhile,” said Michel Godon, co-chair of the pre-hospital emergency care program at John Abbott College. “This program will try to get more of them out there which has an effect on response times. Some people have to wait up to a couple of hours before they can get an ambulance. It’s all based on priority.”

He explained that paramedics are frequently overworked. “They just don’t have enough. During the summer people were booking overtime on their days off. They cancelled their vacations to work, because they were needed.”

They operate in 12-hour shifts. They try to stagger the hours so that there are always a decent number of medics on the road.

“As a paramedic, when you need a day off, you’re tired, you’re burnt out; it’s not always feasible to take a day off, because it means that there’s not going to be anyone responding.”

As a teacher in the John Abbott paramedic program, Godon tries to prepare his students for the rigorous nature of the job. “We had them do night shifts on the weekends, some of them didn’t sleep all weekend and they love it.”

Regardless of the demanding nature of the job, it’s rewarding. “One thing about this type of job is that people don’t go into it just for a paycheck obviously. They want to help people. They don’t mind doing extra shifts.”

The students want to learn this profession so that they can help people, but there are other perks as well, Godon said jokingly. “They like the truck with the red lights and sirens. They’re getting paid to break the law, speed through red lights.”

This is the first semester that John Abbott has offered this program. But Godon has been working on it for two years.

At completion of the program, students will be trained for primary care. They take biology, immunology, pharmacology and emergency medical courses in order to learn to stabilize patients before sending them to the hospital. They will be trained to deal with “something as stupid as someone letting off a smoke bomb in the metro,” to dealing with modern day crises inlcuding weapons of mass destruction and hazardous materials.

Paramedics and ambulance drivers are one and the same. During their training, the students take 45 hours of ambulance training.

Godon said that he was chosen to write the program because of his background and connections in the industry. He is a retired paramedic firefighter and also co-chairs the Police Technology program at the college.

With the integration of this program into Abbott’s curriculum, there will likely be more paramedics on the road within a couple of years.

“There’s going to be better care because there will be more people available. If we hire more people there will be less delays.”

Godon said that there are two other colleges, Ste-Foy and Ste-Agathe, who offer a similar program. “I looked at what the other colleges were doing and I consulted with the people that I’m working with and then we decided to add the John Abbott touch to it.” He explained that in the other colleges, the internships were done at the very end of the training. “I felt that if you wait long enough to put someone in the hospital to realize that they don’t get along with sick people, it’s kind of too late.” At John Abbott they start their internships right away. “We’re very pro-success at Abbott. If our students start a program, we want them to finish it.”

Godon explained that the students spent the last two weekends observing in ambulances and dispatch centers, the 911 center where the calls come in for the ambulance. “As a paramedic you’re in the vehicle all the time, you get your calls on the radio.” He explained that even though his students will never be working in a dispatch center, it changes the dynamic when you know what is going on, on the other side of the phone call. “It’s a good idea to know where those calls are coming from, what those people are actually going through while giving you those calls. They’re on the other line talking to this person, who might be really panicked. It’s chaos.”

The students are also spending 24 hours at the Veteran’s hospital and an internship in the geriatric ward of the Montreal General. “More and more patients that they have are elderly. Problems breathing, stomach problems, the flu.”

Older people often wait too long to call for help, he explained. “Maybe they should have seen a doctor two weeks before, but when they call, it’s a crisis situation.” Some paramedics can get annoyed with some of the callers because they feel that they are not in a dire situation. But this type of attitude is unacceptable. “If they’re calling you it’s because they need help, so you’ve got to give it to them.”

Godon emphasized that a priority is to make the students aware of the importance of politeness and respect. “If the patients feel comfortable with the medics, then things will go a lot better.

“We’re there to serve the citizens and give them the respect that they deserve.”