Faces of the Fight from Glen Perchie, EMS Director: Paramedics in a pandemic are there to help

It’s been 20 long months since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Twenty months of supporting terrified and tired staff from my office and not being along side them. Twenty months of long hours at work and even longer hours of worrying about my team. Twenty months of paramedics ventilating patients and rushing them to the hospital because COVID has taken their ability to breathe.

Our EMS teams across the province are taking some pretty heavy criticism from patients right now.  Our front line is very stressed out and exhausted. Everyone, including our patients and their families, are on edge and just plain exhausted from COVID-19. Our paramedics are waiting hours in hospital to transfer patient care because the Emergency Departments are full. Some teams have spent the better part of their shift with only one patient.

Add to this, our paramedic teams are now responding to opioid overdoses on a regular basis. They get called into some pretty frightening places. They step over countless used needles, knives, bats, other weapons I didn’t know existed. They put their lives in danger. And when paramedics do get some naloxone into the patient, it’s often followed by paramedics getting threatened by the patient and bystanders because they took away the high.

I’m very worried about my team and how they are going to continue to provide safe, life-saving care when they fear for their safety.

I need the people of Saskatchewan to understand that we are doing absolutely everything we can to help the people that call us. The COVID-19 pandemic has created new processes that we need to follow so that we stay healthy and can continue to provide emergency care.

If it takes us an extra minute to put on our Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) before we get out of the ambulance, please give us that time.

We also need you to be truthful when we ask you questions. We have families at home that need us to return healthy and safe.

Also, please understand that our PPE can mask our body language. It’s hard to see our concern and compassion that you would normally see when only our eyes are visible. Just trust and know that it is there – we care about you and your loved ones, and we are there to help.

Please, please, please do what you can to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Please get vaccinated.

And, if you or someone you know and love is using opioids, get trained in the use of naloxone. Kits and training are free to anyone in Saskatchewan.

You can help us by helping those around you.