Thompson down to one ambulance Monday
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Only one ambulance was running in Thompson Monday because of a severe staffing shortage.
Shared Health operated the only ambulance in the northern city of 13,000 people.
The two that are operated by the city’s fire department couldn’t be staffed because workers called in sick and overtime couldn’t bridge the gap.
Eric Campbell, president of the Thompson Professional Firefighters Association, said one ambulance isn’t enough in a city of that size.
He said the fire-paramedic team has shrunk to nine employees from 24, and cannot respond to the need. About 9,000 ambulance calls are made each year.
Campbell said the department often relies on volunteers to fill out the rest of the team.
“We can really only hope and pray for slow days when we’re so critically understaffed,” Campbell said. “We’re definitely just piecemealing stuff together at the moment, and that’s just a result of our staffing situation that, frankly, has been an issue for years.”
Campbell is calling on the federal, provincial and municipal government to address the staffing crisis.
— Matt Frank