Alberta paramedics are working tens of thousands of hours of overtime every month. Documents obtained by the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA) found overtime accounts for eight to 12 per cent of all hours worked by paramedics. When those hours are added up, it totals more than 30,000 hours of overtime across the province each month. “Paramedics across Alberta are being pushed to their breaking point,” said HSAA vice president Leanne Alfaro, in a release. “This is more than just picking up a few extra shifts. “EMS in Alberta now relies on exhausted professionals who are routinely working long stretches, sometimes mandatory and without rest, to give everything they can without the support they need,” she added. The HSAA said hiring of paramedics has not kept pace with population growth in Alberta. Between 2022 and 2025, Alberta’s population grew by 10 per cent, while the number of paramedics grew by 4.5 per cent. HSAA represents paramedics, respiratory therapists, psychologists, pharmacists, diagnostic imagining technologists and others who deliver care across Alberta’s health system.
