Medavie paramedics fielded more than 40,000 calls in 2022

The past year set another record for paramedic call volumes in the Saskatoon area, according to Medavie Health Services West.

Paramedics responded to 40,408 calls last year, Medavie said, compared to 2021’s 39,836.

“The stress of being a paramedic has never been higher,” Troy Davies, director of public affairs for Medavie, said in a statement.

Davies said mental health and overdose calls are still on the rise, though an increase in community use of Narcan nasal spray kits to treat overdoses has helped reduce the number of times Narcan had to be administered by paramedics.

In 2022, 651 doses of Narcan were administered by Medavie paramedics, compared to 604 in 2021 and 460 in 2020.

Pediatric calls were up by about 600 last year, from 1,309 calls for children 12 and under in 2021 to 1,913 in 2022.

Davies also reflected on positive partnerships in 2022, with community paramedics working both alongside the Saskatoon Tribal Council and responding to long-term care patients and patients in their homes who needed services like IV therapy, antibiotics and wellness checks.

Almost 2,000 patients were treated by community paramedics in 2022, and without the community paramedics many of those patients would have been transported by ambulance to an emergency room instead.

As call volumes increase, the number of paramedics working in the area is increasing as well. Twenty-three new paramedics were hired by Medavie in 2022.