Thank you Patrick;

I have been a dispatcher for 15 years, something of an oddity these days. I started my emergency medical dispatch career at the Mississauga Centre and continue today at the Oshawa site.

I also sit on the Ministry Employee Relations Committee and I am here today on behalf of all the Provincial Communication Officers.

I truly believe that ambulance dispatch centres are in a desperate crisis and have been for some time.

The situation has steadily grown to the point where public safety is more then a real concern. The recruitment and retention problems have created a ticking bomb. By the very nature of our service, when you are in need, you would expect have the ear of a competent; well trained person take your call. Some days, the most experienced person on shift has less than one year.

Each of the 11 ambulance dispatch centres cover vast areas. Each has a combination of city and rural calls. It takes time and experience to become familiar with a dispatch area.

When you call for help, you would trust that this vital public service would be able to locate you quickly and accurately. There are calls that have been misdirected due to lack of knowledge of an area. Unfortunately, in many cases this is and has been fatal.

When you call, we ask several questions to help prioritize your call and ascertain exactly what the problem is. I can help you with artificial respiration and CPR. I can even help deliver your baby. Here again experience speaks volumes.

We now have such difficulties keeping staff that understaffing is common practice, resulting in dispatchers ordered to work 16-24 hour shifts. Often without breaks of any kind! Numerous times are we called in to work on days off in order to staff to minimum levels.

In Oshawa, a relatively small centre, with a complement of 11.5 full time positions, we have had 11 people quit in recent months. These quit either because they could not handle the workload or left for less busy, better staffed 911 services offering more pay. This high turn over is province wide.

Examine the cost of training, billeting, and instructors in this turnstile environment. Monies spent only to have our resources go other places, and leaving us with the same situations. Look at the money lost in sick time, stress illness and burnout. Funds better allocated to wage parity with our counterparts. Incentive to keep and maintain staffing levels that will reduce stress and lost trainees.