FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 22, 2001
Nobody home at 911
The phones are ringing off the hook and every day there are fewer staff to answer them at Ontario’s ambulance dispatch centers.
Ambulance dispatchers who answer 911 emergency calls say low wages and an impossible workload are making it difficult to do their jobs now, leaving the province poorly prepared for any disaster that may occur. Workers across Ontario have had to put 911 calls on hold and leave lines ringing because of a serious staffing crisis
caused by low salaries and stress. Workload has tripled in some areas over the past decade and staffing levels have not kept up.
“The public’s safety is at risk because of the government’s neglect,” said Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Leah Casselman. “In the event of a full-scale emergency, our dispatch centers, short-staffed at the best of times, are ill-equipped to respond if a real disaster strikes Ontario. The calls keep coming
in, and, more and more, there is no-one to answer them.”
Glenna Caldwell, President of OPSEU Local 302 said her members have been leaving for better-paying positions. Salaries at ambulance dispatch centers are as low as $38,000 per year, compared with approximately $60,000 for dispatchers with fire and police departments. “The situation is so serious that one member who had an emergency
on the job had to call her own ambulance – she was the only one to do it.”
Many shifts do not have full complement of staff, and those who are still on the job face problems such as poor equipment, lack of experience, lack of training on new legislative requirements, and lack of supervision. Supervisors, management and partially trained personnel have been used to dispatch ambulances. “In an emergency the
public expects someone to answer the phone and stay on the line to assist until help arrives and this is not happening.”
“Workers have had no time off and are burning out,” Caldwell said, adding one worker worked 20 night shifts in a row, another was earning up to $28,000 a year just in overtime. “Now many people who wanted to make this a career are looking for other jobs.”
OPSEU calls for a renewal of public services in the wake of the tragedy in the United States, Walkerton, the anthrax scares, and other public emergencies. “We have no choice but to rebuild public services to protect public health and safety and the public interest,” Casselman said. OPSEU represents workers at many of Ontario’s
ambulance dispatch centres employed by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
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For more information, contact:
David Cox, OPSEU Communications: 416-443-8888 x 314 or 416-788-9197 cell
Sandy Edwards, Ambulance Dispatcher and Steward OPSEU 302: 905-432-6959
