Paramedics gathered outside James Paton Memorial Hospital in Gander over the lunch hour to demonstrate against working conditions that they say are at the breaking point.
NAPE President Jerry Earle joined the paramedics over the lunch hour. He says there have been issues surrounding staffing shortages in both Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor for some time.
Earle attended an emergency meeting in Gander on the issue last week and also met with representatives in Grand Falls-Windsor. He says the issues raised are ones faced by many paramedics in the province.
He says people may take comfort in seeing two ambulance units parked outside the hospitals in Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor, but only one of those two units is actually staffed. Paramedics for the second unit are actually on call, and must be called in if more than one ambulance is needed at a given time.
