Niagara paramedics are calling for action on a critical ambulance shortage.
The union say Niagara EMS have seen frequent Code Zeros as late, where there are no ambulances available to respond to 911 calls.
"On Friday last week, we were in Code Zero for nine consecutive hours. For nine hours there was no one available to respond to people in our communities requiring emergency medical care. This is unacceptable," said Jon Brunarski, an active paramedic and president of CUPE 911. "We immediately need more full-time staff and more ambulances to respond to 911 calls."
Niagara EMS recently hired 37 part-time paramedics but the union says that is not sufficient to handle the current level of call volumes.
Brunarski added "At the same time, our population has grown and aged, so workloads have been increasing. Paramedics are routinely denied breaks at work, and more and more of us are getting injured or just simply burning out."
The team are calling for more paramedics and more ambulances to address the issue, but also admit the current number of hospital beds in the region needs to be increased as well.
Matt Holmes spoke to President Jon Brunarski, Dispatcher Ian Montgomery, and Paramedic Leila ᓖᓚ Paugh.