Newly minted paramedics held back from jobs by bureaucratic change

Up to 100 student paramedics across B.C. who have just finished their training will likely not get to work with an ambulance crew until next spring because of changes to the province's licensing process.

"This is a six-month delay when there's such a huge shortage of paramedics in B.C.," said Sarah Paget, who trained at the Justice Institute of B.C.in New Westminster.

Pagetbelievesshe and her classmates have beenunfairly caught up in the transition for testingnew paramedicsfrom B.C.'sEmergency Medical Assistants Licensing Boardto theCanadian Organization of Paramedic Regulators.

The students were already enrolled in the program at the time the changes took place.

"The only time this year that they are holding this exam that our class would have been close to being eligible for would have been November," said Paget.

But the Justice Institute course wasn't over in time to allow the students to meet the Canadian Organization of Paramedic Regulators' deadline to signup for the test.

"That means for my class, the earliest possible exam date is the end of March 2017 and with a four week processing time after the exam, we wouldn't get licensed until the middle or end of April," said Paget.

Stalls new hires

Longtime paramedicPaul Stone says British Columbians need to be concernedbecause small towns and cities are desperately in need of paramedics.

"The bigger picture is that the B.C. Ambulance Service is definitely short of paramedics throughout the province and any new roadblocks in the way of getting new paramedics into the job will restrict that," said Stone.

Stone is also CEO of HeartSafe, an organization that trains emergency first responders.

He describes the transfer of testing from a provincial agency to a national one as simply a money-saving move on the part of the provincial government.

"People move up from the smaller centres and come into the bigger centres for full-time work and you need to replace those people in the smaller towns and cities across B.C.," said Stone.

"The whole pipeline has slowed down."

CBC had several conversations with B.C. Ministry of Health staff but received no official statement on the matter.

JI tried to help students

Justice Institute officials say they are sensitive to students' situation because they committed to theprogram prior to the licensing changes.

"This change was kind of sprung on us too,"said Kathy Harms, director of the Health Sciences Division at the Justice Institute.

"As those changes came out, we notified students that changes were in place, butin as far asinvestigating the details and dates of various exam sittings, that would be up to the students to review."

The JI did, however, make an applicationto the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board tograndfather the current class so it could write the exam under the old system.

The request was denied.

The conflict between course and exam dates will likely occur again next year.

"The exams are set at certain dates. We run three consecutive cohorts throughout the year, so there's always going to be one cohort that doesn't align," said Harms.

The difference, said Harms, isthe changes are now clearly outlined on the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board's website.

That wasn't the case when Pagetstarted her course.

Dozens could feel the impact

The changes affect all studentsin B.C. who applyfor a paramedic's licence.

"Best estimate? Approximately100 students 100 potential paramedics delayed from entering the workforce," saidPaget.

Over past few months, Paget said, she's learned how much she wants to be a paramedic and how much the province needs more of them.

"Andfor this licensing organization to, mainly because of poor planning, put roadblocks in the way of, not only my career,but the patients who need better response time, is very infuriating."