Record year for Saskatoon paramedic responses: Medavie

It’s been a record year for Saskatoon paramedics in terms of the number of emergency responses.

According to Troy Davies, Medavie director of public affairs, paramedics responded to 42,125 calls in Saskatoon and surrounding areas like Martensville and Warman in 2023, up from 40,408 in 2022.

Davies called it “another challenging year,” adding that there’s been an increase in all types of calls, but especially mental health and addiction-related calls.

He said they could collectively predict six months ago that 2023 would be another record year for paramedic responses.

“It just shows how busy EMS services are not only in Saskatoon, but the entire province. To be 1,700 more calls this year than last year definitely makes an impact on our staff, for sure,” he said.

Calling it a sign of a growing city, Davies said they’re definitely seeing more drug overdose calls.

“The amount of Narcan we’re giving in a shift compared to three years ago is probably 10 times more than we used to pre-COVID. The addictions side and the mental health are definitely our top (calls) that we’re seeing,” he explained.

Another trend he highlighted — 14,000 people moved to Saskatoon in the last year, and many people, especially newcomers, don’t have family doctors. This has resulted, he said, in more calls for an ambulance.

“Just people who are scared or they don’t have a doctor and they need to go to the ER, or they want to see a doctor. So there’s no real finger-pointing at one or two things,” Davies said.

According to Davies, the community paramedicine program – -where paramedics treat patients in the community as an alternative to taking them to hospitals — has had a huge impact on keeping call numbers lower.

“I think it’s the new way of EMS moving forward. It’s … basically paramedics going into homes — into long term care homes, senior complexes, treating patients at home and then leaving those patients and following up on those patients without transporting them to the hospital.”

Davies said that program is also in demand and saw a rise from 2,508 responses in 2022, to 3,623 in 2023.

Last week, the province announced $2.6 million in funding for two more fully staffed ambulances and one more community paramedic 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

It’s something Davies was excited to hear.

“It’s equivalent to 18 full-time paramedics that are going to be starting as soon as possible, probably March or April when they’ll be hitting the streets when we’ll have them fully staffed,” he said.

Right now, Medavie has about 12 ambulances and 200 staff.

“It’s an early Christmas present that we were very happy with,” said Davies.