The head of the Cochrane District Paramedic Service says Iroquois Falls is not losing overnight coverage.
Director of Health Jean Carriere says Iroquois Falls and Cochrane previously each had one onsite medic and one on call. But the number of nighttime calls in the Falls is just over half the volume in Cochrane (184 last year in IF, 316 in Cochrane). So Carriere says Cochrane now has two onsite paramedics while Iroquois Falls has both on call.
“Iroquois Falls are lucky,” he observes. “They have paramedics that live in the community. So they respond from the home. But any of our new staff are basically staying at the station and responding from there.”
Carriere says that still meets provincial standards.
Two years ago, the service had 110 medics. That has fallen to 85. Carriere adds that the shortage means scheduling challenges, and time-off requests that can’t all be granted.
“We’ve seen an increase in all of the college programs in Northern Ontario and over the next couple of years, we’re going to see a larger intake in students and placements and being able to augment the amount of staffing that we have and to provide a well deserved break to the paramedics that are working.”
Listen to Jean Carriere via the link below.