I say this without malice, just with a great deal of sorrow.
It’s not that these organizations have done nothing but none of them have done enough.
Or perhaps they’ve just not been very successful, other than keeping themselves busy.
I left out the HQCA, did think about making them a tiny horse or a child on a stick horse.
No matter, there’s enough derision to go around. Let’s take them one at a time, shall we?
ACP:
Just read the President’s message. Happy Holidays you lovely, lovely Paramedics! Still no word on Hospitals holding EMS Crews hostage being a bad thing. As ACP is supposed to protect patients, it’s unacceptable to me that they refuse to comment about the Critically Ill and Injured waiting for Care in the Community because half the Ambulances are routinely held hostage in Hospital Hallways. I’m not asking them to mount a Special Forces Rescue, simply make a statement, “Hospital Hallway Waiting is bad for Patients”.
Feel free to laugh out loud whenever they mention any ‘work’ they do on the EMS Advisory Council. I can’t imagine why they’re part of that group, other than optics. Why was ACP ever part of the original EMS Advisory Committee, other than they have an email address for every Paramedic in Alberta? Other than that email list, IMO they offered no value. They did put together some training courses but again, IMO, this was only because the largest employer of Paramedics in Alberta completely dropped the ball when it came to training.
APA:
This is a tough one. The APA has done some great work in the past and I’ve been a member for years. Core Flex, Mental Health, Peer Support, the APA has definitely helped. Still, they continue to carry a stigma of disorganization and have failed to clearly articulate their mission. That has deterred many Paramedics from supporting what could be a much more effective voice for our Profession.
The APA AGM ‘featured’ ppt presentations from AHS leadership that IMO was condescending, misleading and inappropriate. Allowing an unelected gov’t bureaucrat to spin nonsense and obfuscate questions about serious EMS concerns was counter to any mission any true advocacy organization could have. IMO it was embarrassing to be there.
HSAA:
Even Danielle Smith, before she was elected, stated clearly that Paramedics ought to be in their own bargaining group. Paramedics we’ve spoken to have seen the wages that are currently being paid in BC and they’ve done the math. It shows most Alberta Paramedics are making $12K less per year in real wages than they did 15 years ago.
This issue could stand as the primary reason for staffing issues that Paramedics are voicing right now. Add to that the glut of managers, supervisors and directors that are a burr under the cheap saddle that Paramedics are currently forced to wear. HSAA, you’ve only got one job. Get Paramedics a contract with a fair wage and protection from the predatory and vindictive practices of AHS leadership. Best get on that before you lose your mandate.
AHS:
Ahhhh…. Finally. IMO these are worst of the bunch. All others are beholden to them, even the child on the stick horse that is the HQCA. AHS took over in 2009 and while many people from that era will tell you that they predicted disaster, I remained optimistic. What choice was there? My bad. Every one of us who put forth an effort to make their plan work was betrayed. The decline in EMS has been steady, relentless and ruthless.
We’re still being betrayed. There’s not one single component of AHS EMS that isn’t broken & bleeding. Hallway Waits Continue Unabated. This is, IMO, the most egregious error from AHS leadership and every organization I’ve listed should be speaking out against it. “If you don’t control your fleet, you don’t control EMS”. Dispatch is a micro-managed empire of miscues and misdirection. Optima continues to be used to justify the idiotic ‘borderless system’. Rural Communities are constantly robbed of their EMS resources without recourse. Vehicle maintenance is shoddy at best and when Alberta Transportation is asked to investigate, they state, “We have no mandate, AHS is an essential service”.
Staffing is a nightmare of vacant shifts, caused by the multiple factors we’ve discussed in other articles at WheresMyAmbulance.com – The SSM rules are frequently overridden by managers and many EMS Crews now pull over and STOP when the 14hr mark is reached, refusing to move and forcing managers to send someone to drive them home. Moral Injuries, Lateral Violence, WCB claims for physical and mental health are all increasing.
If you’ve read any of our work then you know we FOIP information constantly. We must, because AHS is neither transparent nor accountable. We’ve been accused of ‘taking the FOIP data out of context’. Hey, we don’t have to spin it, the data is accurate and we just print it. AHS has tried to censure our work by reporting me to the College of Paramedics. I was looking forward to that fight but during the investigation the complaint was withdrawn… by the complainant.
We were also sent a Cease & Desist Order from Field Law, the outside counsel that AHS uses when they need to make a point. We handled that. Next to the meaningless, repetitive boilerplate babble from AHS Comms that journalists get whenever they request a comment, our stories are well researched and accurate. We’ll have more articles in future that highlight factual data compared to whatever is produced by the AHS spin machine.
In closing, I believe we’re looking at the end of EMS unless something is done to correct these serious deficiencies very soon. Alberta Paramedics are the most capable medical practitioners doing an unimaginable job with few tools and a lot of talent. I always told my students their most useful skill to develop as a Paramedic was the ability to problem solve.
I cannot imagine there are more than a handful of capable Paramedic leaders combined in these four (five, don’t forget the kid on the stick pony at the HQCA) organizations who are even remotely capable of pulling EMS out of the dumpster fire they left it in.
Don Sharpe
Registered Alberta Paramedic
Where’s My Ambulance Principle
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