Rural Sask. communities call for support after EMS expansion announced in Regina, Saskatoon
Regina will soon have two additional ambulances on the road with a full complement of staff. Now other communities in Saskatchewan are calling for more support.
“We know that communities across this province have talked and complained with the provincial government many, many times about the lack of service that we’re seeing in some of the areas outside of Regina,” Randy Goulden, President of SUMA, told CTV News.
In addition to the expansion of services in Regina, Saskatoon will also be receiving funds to staff three more ambulances. While 70 paramedic and first responder positions will be added to 27 communities across Saskatchewan, according to the province.
Minister of Health Paul Merriman said the new positions will also be complimented by a ‘treat and release’ program, aimed at reducing congestion in emergency rooms.
“EMTs would be able to call in and consult with a doctor and do a virtual triage to be able to say ‘this is what we’re seeing’ and they can make that decision.” Merriman explained.
“That would be the attending [physician’s] decision to be able to A, bring them into the emergency room and B, be able to perform what they can on site, get in to see their family doctor the next day,” he added.
In smaller centres, such as Cupar, paramedics have expressed concern about long wait times at emergency rooms when dropping off patients.
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts sent to your device
In some instances, emergency personnel have waited up to eight hours.
“We’re waiting for a room to open up while doctors see other people. They can’t take us first because we are an ambulance. They go by triage,” Dustin Cappelle of Cupar EMS told CTV News.
The provincial government has said that it plans to deal with ER congestion by setting aside certain areas to receive ambulance patients.
This system is meant to allow EMS crews to get back on the road quickly to the next emergency.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.