Ontario firefighters slam paramedics in bid to take on medical emergencies

In a campaign that criticizes the province's paramedics, Ontario firefighters say they have a plan to improve response times for medical emergencies.

Ontario Professional Fire Fighters' Association released a video this week that slams the province's paramedic system, saying response times are too slow, while costs continue to rise.

• Paramedics oppose firefighters responding to medical emergency calls

"EMS has problems. Firefighters solve problems," a narrator says in the video, which is part of a lobbying campaign to convince government to allow some fire fighters to perform paramedic duties.

"What we're looking to do is lift those restrictions and allow that licensed paramedic to practice their skill set, regardless of the colour of truck they arrive on," said Rob Hyndman, president of the firefighters association.

CUPE has long fought the ongoing campaign from fire fighters to expand their medical emergency roles. The latest video tries to "paint a picture that there's something wrong with the current EMS system," explained Corey Nageleisen, a paramedic and vice chairman of the CUPE ambulance committee of Ontario.

"I'm disappointed with it," he said. "It's really unfortunate to see a smear campaign being launched by the OPFFA."

Push to change legislation

About 10 per cent of fire fighters have some paramedic training, but they can't perform those duties in an emergency because of provincial legislation, Hyndman explained.

OPFFA is urgingthe province to use fire services as an extra resource in pre-hospital care, which it says will save money because fire fighters are more efficient.

Hyndmanexpects the province's auditor general to highlight rising costs of Ontario Emergency Medical Services, without any improvements to service,in a report coming next week.

Paramedics say public safety is an issue in a proposed mixed model because firefighters do not have the level of training their EMS counterparts have, according toNageleisen.

"Our paramedics, they are first and foremost medical professionals," he said. "The second you start looking at blended models and fire medics and whatnot, you're starting to produce a culture where professionals are becoming a jack of all trades and masters of none."

Essex-Windsor EMS chief BruceKrauteris pleased with the region's response times for paramedics, which sits at anaverage of eight minutes in the city and 10 minutes in the county.

"That's from the time the person calls 911 to the time the ambulance arrives on scene," Krauter said. "The other emergency services, whether it be police or fire, I don't know how they calculate their response times."

Krauterintroduced a data dispatch system in recent months to help improve response times. The program sends informationfrom the 911 call to the paramedic's computer.

The information, including location and route, makes "ambulance response more efficient and paramedic time more efficient and effective," Krauter said.

Essex-Windsor EMS has260 paramedics. Ofthose, 106 are full-time staff. Krauter said both EMS and fire services in the region have response systems that work well together.