‘It’s exhausting’: Sask. paramedics talk mental health struggles

WATCH: Saskatchewan paramedics are talking about how they care for their mental health while working the high-stress job.

Leaders in Saskatchewan’s paramedicine field gathered in Saskatoon on Tuesday for the Paramedic Services Chiefs Conference. A particular focus of the day was the mental health of paramedics.

“I often hear that the stresses aren’t so much from the emergency calls that they go on. It’s the external, controllable factors like workplace culture, a supportive workplace, the place where they feel they have purpose, where they have passion, where they feel they’re contributing,” said Daniel Sundhal, a guest speaker and former paramedic of 20 years.

Sundhal has spent the last decade sharing his experiences with other first responders. He experienced trauma throughout his 20 years as a paramedic, and now he is helping others deal with the stressors of the job.

“It’s a lot about training, which is why conferences like this are so fantastic, where leaders in the industry can come and learn about ways to better support their employees, with the result of having them maintain better employment, where they’re more productive, they stay longer, and they’re happier,” Sundhal said.

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The increased strain on paramedics is the result of a number of factors, one being the steadily increasing number of overdoses across the country.

“The problem with opioids is it can affect anyone of any walk of life. It could be a high school student, it could be a senior who’s taken too many medications, accidentally mixed them up or they’re new to them and thought they were something else. It could be somebody of affluence,” said Lyle Karasiuk, director of public affairs for Parkland Ambulance.

Karasiuk emphasized that the reach of the opioid crisis often comes as a surprise to new paramedics.

“Some of our responders are coming back to us saying ‘I didn’t know it could happen in somebody that young,’” Karasiuk said.

While awareness around the topic is improving, Karasiuk said it has a noticeable effect on those who respond to overdose calls.

“Practitioners and paramedics who are facing it with more frequency and higher acuity, it is taxing. It’s taxing on resources. It’s tiring. It’s exhausting. So, those people are reaching out within their systems for those supports that need it,” Karasiuk said.

The strains on paramedic services are not exclusive to urban centres. Chief of the Wakaw & District EMS, Steven Skoworodko, said that retention in rural communities is a growing problem.

“That’s everything from emergency medical responders to advanced care paramedics. The biggest calls are sometimes out in rural communities,” Skoworodko said.

Skoworodko said rural recruitment and retention are challenges across the province, and the potential outcomes are extremely concerning.

“There’s over 200 vacancies for paramedics in Saskatchewan right now. And that’s very concerning as operators across the province, because we don’t have the paramedics to put in the ambulances to respond to emergencies,” Skoworodko said.

Skoworodko added when looking at the numbers, the need for service is clearly increasing without the number of paramedics matching that increase.

“There’s 181,000 calls for ambulances within the province a year, and we travel over 14 million km throughout the province every year,” Skoworodko said.

While these challenges cannot be solved in a two-day conference, Sundhal is optimistic that the event can help improve working conditions for first responders.

“I’m hoping that people, when they leave this conference, have a sense of hope. They’ll have a sense, maybe a paradigm shift in their perspective. Maybe they can try new things to make their stressors less and hopefully enjoy the job that they do, which is an incredibly rewarding profession,” Sundhal said.