This week, we acknowledge to the strength, skill, courage and compassion of the paramedics who work on the front line every day to keep our communities safe.
The lives of thousands of people are touched by paramedics in Canada every day. Their work is literally life or death for many. Yet, across the country, there is a staffing crisis that is leading to a shortage of ambulances and dangerously long wait times.
The issue of offload delays has persisted for far too long. Paramedics lose hours waiting to offload patients at emergency departments. These delays keep them from returning to active duty and contribute to staffing shortages. Our population is growing and aging—ambulance services and our hospital system needs to keep up with increasing demand and treat patients as soon as possible.
Improvements are needed. But governments must also stop the drive to privatize our public ambulance services. Instead, improvements can and must be made within our public and universal health care system.
- For more information about public solutions in health care, visit our campaign page
Public solutions deliver better results and higher quality of care for less money. With public solutions, our health care system can grow to meet the needs of CUPE members, our families and our communities.
As CUPE members, we will continue to fight for better and expanded public services that meet the health care needs of the public and provide good jobs for paramedics and all health care workers.
Happy Paramedic Services Week! We thank you for your hard work, dedication and service to our communities. Together we will continue to campaign for quality public health care for all.