Staffing shortages a concern for paramedics amid Stampede, heat wave

Paramedics are raising the alarm about a shortage of staff in the Calgary area over some of the busiest days of Stampede.

CBC News has obtained information from several sources showing, as of Wednesday afternoon, there were 103 unfilled paramedic shifts in the Calgary zone over the next three days — 24 on Friday, 52 on Saturday and 27 on Sunday.

With two paramedics per ambulance, sources say that means roughly 50 ambulances could be parked over those three days.

All this comes during Stampede — when call volumes are typically high due to an influx of tourists and higher risk activities, including alcohol consumption — and at a time when Calgary is enduring an intense heat wave, which can trigger more health problems.

"This is not safe," said a Calgary paramedic, whom CBC News has agreed not to identify due to concerns they'll be fired for speaking out.

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"Since 2022, our staffing has been absolutely abysmal. We're looking at sometimes dozens of vacant shifts per day, which translates into several ambulances being shut down," they said.

In an effort to fill the gaps, ambulances are often brought into Calgary from outlying communities, the paramedic said, leaving those areas with less coverage.

 "People are waiting longer for ambulances. There's calls to 911 that are coming in where there's no ambulances in the city available. Then the real losers end up being the rural communities, who have to sacrifice their ambulances for entire days sometimes," the source said.

While Stampede is a particularly busy time, paramedics have been raising concerns about shortages for several years.

"We're operating with less ambulances than we should be on an almost daily basis. How can somebody argue that that's safe?" the paramedic said.

"There's nothing but risk associated with that."

Don Sharpe, a retired AHS paramedic who now advocates for rural ambulance care, gets regular calls from his colleagues.

"We expected this. It's just getting worse every year," he said. "These are the highest number of out-of-service ambulances I've ever seen."

According to Sharpe, paramedics are burned out and morale is extremely low.

"If something really terrible happens at the grounds — if someone gets really badly hurt or there's a number of people hurt — are there going to be enough ambulances in Calgary to respond to the grounds? I think EMS knows the risks."

The Stampede situation is symptomatic of an ongoing problem, according to the union representing paramedics.

In a statement shared with CBC News, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) said there is a staffing crisis within EMS and across the health system.

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"Concerns of EMS short-staffing in the Calgary area during a provincewide heat wave and the Calgary Stampede highlight the real consequences that short-staffing has on our health-care system and the care Albertans need," the statement said in part.

"Alberta's health-care professionals are dedicated, but there simply aren't enough of us to keep up."

Ryan Middleton, a primary care paramedic in the Calgary zone, said the increase in call volumes, driven by population growth and an aging population, was predictable.

"To not incrementally, or proportionately grow, the number of resources and staff with that number seems incredibly short-sighted," said Middleton, a local executive co-chair with the HSAA, adding he doesn't speak on behalf of AHS.

AHS response

Alberta Health Services said demand is increasing, which is typical at this time of year.

"Despite an increase in call volumes of up to 14 per cent, AHS EMS continues to respond to citizens in a timely manner with no marked increase in response times for high priority calls," a spokesperson said in a statement emailed to CBC News.

The health authority said additional resources are added at busy times, so the gaps don't reflect the true vacancy rate, and it is working to increase coverage during Stampede.

"This includes working to fill shifts through normal process and with overtime being offered, enlisting paramedics from other areas … working with our partners in emergency departments to ensure ambulances and paramedics are returned to the community quickly, and ensuring paramedics performing non-front-line work [such as training] are assigned to the front line," the statement said.

The health authority noted the Calgary Stampede has a private paramedic service providing support on the grounds. It said AHS paramedics attend if patients need to be transported off the grounds.

According to AHS, EMS staffing increased by 19.2 per cent between December 2019 and May 2024. 

It said EMS hired 362 paramedics last year and 139 so far this year. Twenty-seven paramedics have resigned or retired to date in 2024 and 38 did so in the first half of 2023.

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According to Middleton, many people have also moved from full-time to part-time or casual in recent years.

"You can dress it up however you want, but ultimately we need more bodies, we need more physical ambulances and we need more understanding from the public," he said.

Meanwhile, Middleton said all this has left many of his colleagues struggling with moral distress.

"You're face to face having to explain the reason it took you 45 minutes to get to their house [and] there's nothing else you can do because that overdose has progressed to a … cardiac arrest," he said.

"Knowing, inside, that if someone had been there in the first 10 or 15 minutes, it would be a markedly different outcome for somebody's loved one, we are the ones having to explain that to somebody."