Pubdate: Thu, 22 Dec 2016
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Njck Eagland
Page: 14

B.C.'S FIRST RESPONDERS AT THE BREAKING POINT

Province's drug problem taking serious toll on already over-stressed
workforce

Incessant overdose calls and multiple drug deaths during shifts are
taking a serious toll on the mental health of B.C. paramedics,
according to their union.

Bob Parkinson, director of health and wellness for the Ambulance
Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of B.C., said even before the
current fentanyl-related overdose crisis, paramedics were feeling
strained while responding daily to life-and-death situations.

"We're already an over-stressed workforce with little or no support
and we are seeing more and more effects of this," he said.

"We're getting to the point that it's becoming a crisis and this
fentanyl stuff is just adding to it."

With an overdose crisis across the province, paramedics in small
communities are responding to calls and reviving friends' kids or
handling multiple overdoses involving casual drug users at parties,
Parkinson said.

Parkinson said depression and anxiety are the most common mental
health issues among paramedics, but some are dealing with
post-traumatic stress disorder or struggling with family problems and
their own addiction issues.

He's worried the workforce will lose quality women and
men.

"You know how we cope as a first responder or a paramedic or a
dispatcher - we go 'til we break and then it's too late," he said.

Both Parkinson and Bronwyn Barter, president of the union, are
pleading for more resource support and for government to quickly
respond to an ORH report recommending an increase in B.C. Emergency
Health Services' fleet size.

"We need the public to support us and push our politicians and
policy-makers to deal with this," Parkinson said.

Barter said paramedics are accustomed to responding to life-and-death
situations, but the overdose crisis has changed the nature of their
work.

"They're basically going from call to call and they're not even
processing what they're going through," she said. "It's just getting
worse and on top of that we had resource issues prior to the fentanyl
crisis being declared back in April."

On Nov. 26, the provincial government announced $5 million in funding
for B.C. EHS to support paramedics and dispatchers during the overdose
crisis.

The injection of cash was used for such measures as putting
medical-support units in high-overdose locations, providing paramedics
with bicycles and ATVs and bolstering supervisory support to assist
with triaging.

Linda Lupini, president of the B.C. Emergency Health Services, said
the impact of the overdose crisis on B.C.'s paramedics is "absolutely
a concern" for her organization.

"This kind of work is really difficult," she said. "Just the repeated,
cumulative stress of being in a pressure situation over and over again
where you're really having minutes to save a life is very difficult."

Lupini said BCEHS implemented a comprehensive program for
critical-incident stress management before the crisis, which led to 87
on-call peers being trained to help fellow paramedics deal with stressors.

In response to the crisis, managers have been visiting paramedics to
check in on their mental health.

"They're making sure they're OK, they're being a little more proactive
about asking them whether they're tired, whether they want to continue
working, whether they need to reach out to any of the peers," said
Lupini.

Paramedics and dispatchers showing signs of acute stress are referred
to a counselling program and have access to 39 psychologists connected
to the organization for trauma counselling.

Jennifer Leyen, director of special care services for WorkSafe BC,
said the "cumulative impact" of the crisis on first responders also
has her organization's attention.

"When you go to a couple overdose situations, it may not be that
difficult," Leyen said. "But if you're doing month after month of
this? That's where I'm concerned and our first responders who are
doing this day in and day out, I believe that's worrisome."
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