Province announces money for advanced care paramedics as part of health-care funding

The province is reviving a program that gives advanced training to paramedics in rural and northern Manitoba as part of an additional $200-million announced to recruit, train and retain health care workers. 

Part of the money announced Thursday will allow up to 32 licensed advanced care paramedics to take a refresher course and resume working at that level. 

It will also add 16 advanced care paramedics seats at Red River College Polytechnic in Winnipeg each academic year, says a backgrounder from the province. 

The advanced care paramedicine program at the college was suspended in 2020 for a year because there was no job classification for the highly skilled workers in rural or northern Manitoba.

Helen Clark, chief operating officer of emergency response services for Shared Health, says the job classification issues have since been resolved, allowing advanced care paramedics to work within their full scope of practice. 

"All of these initiatives will help in our efforts to build, stabilize and retain our highly skilled paramedic workforce, which in turn will improve both the time it takes to respond to emergencies and the level of care provided to patients once our paramedics arrive on scene," she said during a news conference Thursday. 

The money announced Thursday doubles the amount of funding earmarked by the province last November for health-care staff retention and recruitment. 

Advanced care paramedics hold the highest licence level for paramedics in the province. They provide advanced life support, respiratory and cardiac care procedures and can give a wide range of medications.

In addition, the province is also introducing 10 community paramedicine units in rural and northern communities. 

The units build on a model already in place in Winnipeg that allows paramedics to develop treatment plans for frequent users of emergency services and connect them to appropriate supports. 

The announcement comes about two months before Manitobans cast their votes in the next provincial election. 

Asked about the timing of the announcement, Health Minister Audrey Gordon said the province has been working on these initiatives for months but was only ready to announce them recently. 

"We wanted to get it right. We certainly don't want to make any mistakes," she said. 

But NDP Union Station MLA and health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the announcement was a "desperate attempt" from the Progressive Conservative government to make Manitobans forget about its cuts to health care.

"For the health minister to come out today and say they're going to take a new approach, it's simply not believable." 

The additional $200 million will also pay for assessments and supports for internationally trained doctors and nurses to help them get on the job faster. 

Tanya Burnside, vice president of Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals MAHCP, which represents paramedics, said the announcement is a "step in the right direction," but it doesn't solve the allied health staffing crisis.

In a Thursday statement, Burnside said the union has been pushing the province to get advanced care paramedics to serve rural communities for years, and that advanced care paramedics are already trained but have not been allowed to work to their full scope.

"These new ACP and community paramedic programs are a positive and long overdue step, but they will create even more paramedic vacancies, on top of the over 200 vacancies that already exist," said Burnside.

Also part of Thursday's announcement were plans enhance security for emergency departments at three Winnipeg hospitals (Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital and Victoria General Hospital), the Brandon Regional Health Centre, and Selkirk Mental Health Centre. 

Those plans include hiring additional safety officers and adding "amnesty lockers" where patients can safely store personal items, building on a pilot project at the Health Sciences Centre.