High number of medical calls taking toll on Tignish firefighters, chief says

The chief of the Tignish Fire Department says his members will no longer be the first responders for medical calls at the Tignish Seniors Home Care Co-operative.

Chief Allan Gavin says the change in policy was needed because there were just too many medical calls coming in, which was taking a toll on his members, who are volunteers.

"At two or three o'clock in the morning when you've got to go to work the next morning, it gets to you after a while," he said.

In order to ease the workload on the volunteers, paramedics will now answer the calls first at the seniors home, and call for help when needed from the fire department.

Help already underway

Matthew Spidel, senior operations manager for Island EMS, said recent enhancements with 911 dispatch means help is often already underway by the time paramedics arrive at the scene.

"The 911 dispatcher will be staying on the line with the caller for emerging calls and they can provide support if it is a serious call, whether it's a cardiac arrest they can support them through CPR, coach them through the AED if it's a chest pain call," he said.

200 calls a year

Gavin said the change, which came into place about two weeks ago, will take some pressure off firefighters who have been responding to about 150 medical calls a year, and about 200 calls overall.

"It takes a toll, and then when you're looking for new members they start looking at 'I can't take that much time off work,'" he said.

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