Recruitment among challenges new Superior North EMS master plan aims to address

The chief of Superior North EMS (SNEMS) says the agency's new master plan will help it get out in front of a number of challenges it'll be facing in the coming years.

The 10-year plan was approved by city council last week, SNEMS Chief Wayne Gates said, and is a wide-ranging document that reflects the changing EMS landscape.

"It's becoming very challenging with the resources we have out there," Gates said. "We need to take a serious look at going forward over the next 10 years, because we know there's going to be challenges."

"Really, the goal of this plan was let's start preparing now and be ready for those challenges as we come upon them."

For example, Gates said, one of the big challenges SNEMS is facing is recruitment. Currently, paramedics need to complete a two-year college course — Confederation College is among the institutions offering it — prior to starting their careers.

"The challenge we're seeing is often, we don't have enough graduates to meet those demands," he said. "So a big challenge I have, especially with the district, is recruitment and having good staffing levels to provide the service."

"We are doing okay right now, but we know going forward it's going to be challenging [to] get new recruits in to work in those communities."

Gates said the plan calls for a few changes in district communities, which will hopefully make those positions more attractive to new recruits. Those include changing how shifts work, and making repairs to some of the SNEMS district stations, some of which, Gates said, are in "very poor condition."

The plan also discusses SNEMS plans to support Indigenous communities in the development of their own paramedic services.

"Not only do we have to provide a service to the municipalities, but also to all our First Nation partners out there, as well," Gates said. "When we went through our data and looked at what was going on out there, we noticed that in particular our Longlac areas, and our Nakina areas, the vast majority of those calls are actually First Nation calls."

"And part of our encouragement would be that, you know, some of these First Nations want to take over those services and run them, by all means, we'd be very supportive of that."

Gates said SNEMS would lobby the provincial government to help ensure an Indigenous paramedic service was funded.

Currently, he said, EMS services are funded by both the municipality and the province in a 50-50 spit.

But, Gates said, "if it is truly a First Nation service, it should really be 100 per cent funded by provincial government. And so we're going to be lobbying for that aspect of funding as well, which would free up some dollars, which would allow me to enhance some of the other services that we're providing out there in the municipalities."