Rural firefighters in Manitoba say new training program spells trouble – Winnipeg | 24CA News
Manitoba’s rural volunteer firefighters are sounding the alarm a couple of new coaching coverage they are saying will make recruiting new members way more troublesome.
Fire departments just like the one in Headingley are run by volunteers and sometimes they’re the primary on the scene of a medical emergency, generally half-hour earlier than an ambulance can get there. According to first responder Glenn Reimer, the brand new necessary coaching necessities — which practically triple the hours of coaching wanted and applies to medical first responders — from the College of Paramedics will flip new recruits away.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge to find somebody who’s willing to commit 312 hours to get the training, and then at the end be a volunteer,” Reimer mentioned.
“Attrition, retirement, people moving out of the area — eventually those numbers will dwindle and drop to a point where our MFR (medical first response) department is no longer sustainable.”
Reimer says he is aware of some departments working with a handful of emergency medical responders (EMRs) which will shut down inside a 12 months. Additionally, folks in rural areas might want to commute for the coaching, which provides extra money and time.
The coaching has practically tripled as about six months in the past, it was 120 hours. This means the associated fee to coach has additionally tripled. It is now $13,000 to $15,000 for one particular person.
“We’ll invest this money in somebody, they could go on one call, it could be quite traumatic and that’s the end of their career,” says John Sparham, hearth chief on the Headingley Fire Department.
Both Sparham and Reimer say they’re frightened for smaller, extra distant communities with only a handful of members that might find yourself shuttering.
Reimer says he’s annoyed that they weren’t contacted by the faculty earlier than the modifications to coaching have been made.
“We’ve brought up concerns about how this will impact our department, but we have never been consulted prior to decisions being made.”
Global News reached out to the faculty for remark but it surely declined an interview and as a substitute offered an announcement saying it’s “committed to future discussions with first responders.”
Chief Ryan Yackel in West St. Paul says since there are solely two suppliers for the brand new coaching, volunteers would doubtlessly must commute lengthy distances for weeks on finish, which is lower than fascinating.
“To enhance paramedicine, you need the people to provide the services. And I think the changes that they’ve made for the medical first response are going to make it nearly impossible for anyone to take it, or want to take it, and it will essentially kill the program.”
Yackle says the brand new modifications imply Manitobans will undergo essentially the most.
— with recordsdata from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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