'Rapid response' paramedic units announced for rural New Brunswick

The New Brunswick government plans to launch a "rapid response"paramedicspilotprogram in rural areas this fall to improve access to emergency medical care,Health MinisterBenotBourque announced Wednesday.

Under the program, a lone primary care paramedic will be dispatched to 911 calls in his or herassigned region and will stabilize patients until an ambulance arrives.

"They will be able to arrive faster at the scene of an emergency and provide care immediately until an ambulance truck arrives," saidBourque.

The fiverapid response units will be established in Minto/Chipman,Grand Bay-Westfield, Kedgwick/Saint-Quentin, the Acadian Peninsula and southwest Miramichi some of the areas the government has faced recent criticism over out-of-service ambulances and slow response times because of a shortage of paramedics.

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On June 5, David Harvey, a 54-year-old carpenter from Nash Creekwhowent into cardiac arrest, died awaitingan ambulance dispatched from Dalhousie, about 30 kilometres away, while the ambulance inJacquetRiver, just three kilometres away, satunstaffed.

His parents, aged 75 and 80, who desperately took turns pumping his chest, are left tormented, wondering if better staffing could have saved their son.

Paramedicshave protestedthe staffing shortages, describing the situation as "critical." The members ofCUPELocal 4848 blame in parta lawsuit settlement that requires Ambulance NB to provideNewBrunswickersfrom both linguistic communities service in the language of their choice.

Won't transport patients

The rapid response units announcement comes just two months before the provincial election, but Bourquesaid it's not part ofa pre-election campaign.

"These are issues that we've been hearing for a long time so this is not anything new. We are committed to ensuring that New Brunswickers have the proper access to health care in terms of first response in emergency situations."

The rapid response unitswill "increase the health care system's capacity to treat patients, particularly when ambulances are responding to a high volume of calls," he said.

Theywillbe staffed 12 hours a day, seven days a week andwill be equipped with much of the same life-saving equipment found on ambulances.

But unlike ambulances, they won't transport patients. They will remain in the geographic area they're assigned to, saidRichard Losier, chief executive officer of Ambulance New Brunswick.

"So they're not part of the dynamic deployment system that we have," which involves ambulances being moved around to help cover the area of a dispatched ambulance.

"Once a call has finished and an ambulance has taken a patient to hospital,that unit is already ready to go, so that is important. They're going to be ready to roll."

Losier expects the program will be operating by "mid- to late-fall," once vehicles have been procured and equipped and paramedics hired.

It's unclear how the province will manage to recruit for the new positions when it's having difficultyfilling existing vacancies, in part because of bilingualism requirements.

The health minister acknowledged the staffing problems and said the government must abide by the Official Languages Act butsaid the province is working hard on recruitment and he's confident the staffing levels will improve.

Jean-Pierre Savoie, director of operations for Ambulance New Brunswick, said recruitment and retention are a "challenge" faced by all health-care professions.

"We are all suffering from a lack of staff."

ANB has a national recruitment campaign underway and is working with schools that have paramedic programs, hoping to entice new graduates, said Savoie.

It has also committed to meet with the union in the fall, he said.

Care during wait

But the paramedics he spoke to following theannouncementare "really excited" about the rapid response units, he said.

"I think it's another asset that we're going to have to help with our response time and provide patient care sooner while we're waiting for an ambulance sometimes to arrive."

About $258,000 has already been set aside for this fiscal year for the vehicles and staffing, with$1 million pledged for2019-2020 and another $1 million in 2020-21, government officials said.

"Hopefully, this will be a start of something new and better moving forward,"Losiersaid.

New Brunswickers will head to the polls on Sept. 24.