The next time you see paramedics on the street or in an ambulance, wave at them to show your appreciation for their work and everything they do for the community.
That’s one tip that Kelly Prime, president of the Paramedic Services Chiefs of Saskatchewan (PSCS), suggests to honour the work of these health-care professionals and their commitment to saving lives, as part of an overall celebration of Paramedic Services Week in Saskatchewan.
“You don’t have to come up to give us a hug or anything like that … . Our medics don’t want anything; they don’t want much. Giving them a wave, saying, ‘Congratulations for the week,’ or ‘Keep up the good job.’ As an operator, that’s all I want for my staff, is for people to recognize that they’re valued,” Prime said.
Citizens should see paramedics as valued members of the health-care system, especially during this time of the coronavirus, when paramedics are one of the first lines of defences and generally the first on scene, he continued. Paramedics can make a difference and can bring different attributes to the health-care system; they can adapt on the fly and be innovative with the care they provide.
Whether it’s an accident on the highway or in a field, these professionals can bring emergency room procedures right to the patients, stabilize them, and determine whether they need to be flown or taken to a big-city hospital or whether the hospital in a small community can suffice.
Other ways to praise these individuals include thanking them on social media and simply being patient with them during the pandemic as they do their best to respond.
Paramedic Services Week in Saskatchewan ran from May 24 to 30 and had the theme this year of Pandemic: Paramedics on the front line.
There are more than 2,200 paramedics who serve throughout the province daily. Paramedics are often the first contact many people have during an emergency. These health-care professionals travel seven million kilometres annually, respond to more than 130,000 calls, and brave the province’s unpredictable weather by putting their patients’ lives ahead of their own when responding to 911 calls.
The PSCS hears every day how grateful people are for paramedics, said Prime, who is an advanced care paramedic (ACP) in east-central Saskatchewan. Paramedics have still responded to emergencies during the pandemic and have helped deliver many babies outside of hospital settings. They have also kept people at home as much as possible instead of taking them to a hospital.
“But we want them to utilize us more because we were finding that people are waiting too long to call the paramedics, and then it’s really bad when we get there,” he continued. “They’re in a really serious condition and sometimes they’re losing their lives because they’re not calling early enough.”
Based on polls that the PSCS had conducted, Prime added, paramedics are the most trusted health-care professionals in the province, with 74 per cent of people favouring them over other health-care providers.
