REGINA – Rural Municipalities in Saskatchewan are concerned about a $5.00 per hour standby rate paid to EMS workers.
On the agenda at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) convention in Saskatoon this week is a resolution to lobby the province to review the current remuneration for standby workers.
As per a 2009 collective bargaining agreement, health districts only pay $5.00 per hour for casual EMS workers to be on standby, in case of an emergency. Typically that means workers must remain in the rural community.
“We get them orientated and recruited and they leave in six months or less.”
“If there’s an ambulance call, then they come on to duty and then they get paid their regular wage,” said Marga Cugnet, CEO of Sun Country Health Region.
The Sun Country Health Region covers the southeast portion of Saskatchewan and provides services for many rural communities including Radville. For a few months last year, Radville had no EMS worker available, so in that case other communities covered.
“Pangman did a great job of covering Radville for those months,” said Cugnet. “As well there was some backup from Weyburn and Bengough.”
Cugnet said retaining new graduates in rural communities is a challenge: “We get them out there, we get them orientated and recruited, and they leave in six months or less than a year.”
“It is, in general, right across the province where we’re having difficulty,” said Cugnet. “Even in Estevan and Weyburn with full-time positions, we can fill those fairly quickly, but it’s hard to find the part-time or the casual positions.”
In Radville last week for the grand opening of a new long-term care facility, Health Minister Dustin Duncan said he spoke with the local health committee regarding the EMS worker shortage.
“Part of it is a conversation around collective bargaining. We do have an outstanding contract for example with Health Sciences,” said Duncan. “Part of it is an evaluation of how we provide EMS services across the province.”
The collective agreement between the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS) and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) expired March 31, 2013. Negotiations are ongoing.
The HSAS represents 533 EMS workers across the province.
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