The Chief of Niagara EMS says the pandemic continues to take its toll on first responders.
Kevin Smith commenting to CKTB today following a call from the paramedic's union, last week to hire more staff immediately.
Smith says the past two years have been a roller coaster, but the last month has been the worst they have ever experienced.
Smith says they are seeing a significant number of calls during the fifth wave of the pandemic, and off-loading patients into hospital ER's is still a major problem.
He says while the problem is not unique to Niagara, off-load delays were a major issue pre-pandemic as well.
Niagara EMS recently hired 37 part-time paramedics but the union says that is not sufficient to handle the current level of call volumes.
Smith says in the last ten years the region has been supportive of the service, and since 2013 full-time paramedic staff is up 35%.
"We have a good investment in the system. When you look at the amount of hours being consumed in the hospital system. In 2021, Niagara paramedic spent 21,000 hours in the hospital. That equates to 875 24hr ambulances over the year. We need to look at fixing off-loading delays to recoup ambulances back in the system so we don't need to spend millions of dollars to prop the system up."
Smith says if an off-load delay solution isn't found, he agrees that more staff and ambulances need to be added.
"If this is the new healthcare system we are living in, then yes we will need to do something."
The union say Niagara EMS have seen frequent Code Zeros as late, where there are no ambulances available to respond to 911 calls.