No two days of work are the same for Joe Draper, paramedic supervisor with Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service, but he says that is one of the things he loves about the career.
Recently, GuelphToday spent a 12-hour Friday shift riding along with Draper to get a sense of what one of those days can look like. The following is a short selection of the events of the day.
Draper works out of the Clair Road Emergency Services Centre on Clair Road, the only purpose-built ambulance station in the city. The service employs about 170 paramedics between the city of Guelph and the County of Wellington.
Beginning at 6 a.m., one of Draper’s first orders of business is to receive a briefing of the previous night’s events from the supervisor who is just getting off. Among the calls he is told about is a man who is suspected to have overdosed on opioids.
A number of suspected overdose calls would come in during the course of his own shift.
Paramedics carry Narcan, a brand of Naloxone used to block the effects of opioid overdoses.
In the first five years of his 15-year career, Draper said he would hear about Narcan being administered maybe a few times a year.
“Now we have heard it three or four times today that someone either received it from us or received it before we arrived on scene,” said Draper near the end of his shift.
As Draper received his briefing, a paramedic crew is in the bay prepping the ambulance they will be driving that day. Supplies are restocked and batteries are charged on the various pieces of equipment.
During the shift we followed, a total of 13 ambulances in the service were on the road in Wellington County, with two paramedics each, as well as Draper in a first response unit that carries many of the supplies an ambulance does but is unable to transport patients on a gurney.
Shortly after his shift begins, a call comes over the station’s public address system of a call for service for a motor vehicle collision on the backroads just out of the city.
Draper’s job is to supervise the paramedic crews, but just as important is the support he provides. During an emergency, an extra set of hands of someone to bounce ideas off of can be crucial.
He speeds to the scene with lights and siren on to find paramedic crews attending to a cyclist who was hit by a pick up truck. The crew already on scene came from the station on Elmira Road.
As the crew transports the cyclist to hospital, Draper stays behind a few minutes to wait for police to arrive to speak to the driver, who remained on scene.
A tone is broadcast over the radio with a message that the service has gone into what is called Code Yellow — meaning there are four or less ambulances available in the city and county combined.
The paramedic supervisor’s responsibilities on Friday shifts include restocking the various stations in the city and within Wellington County, as well as doing an inventory of the drugs paramedics carry on their person during a shift. As the Code Yellow is removed, Draper heads back to base to stock up on the supplies he will need.
Draper first stops at the Elmira Road station, which is located in a unit in the rear of a plaza that also houses a number of businesses, restaurants and a fitness club. This station is a leftover from the days when the city’s ambulance service was privately owned.
Because it is located in a unit at the back of the plaza, Draper notes it is sometimes difficult to get out quickly of in an emergency. Most people wouldn’t know there was an ambulance station there, he notes.
A side benefit of the restocking duties is the time it offers Draper to catch up with paramedics during their down time, as opposed to talking to them at a busy scene.
“The most important part is that I am counting the narcotics on Fridays to make sure those rules are being followed, but mostly it’s just touching base with the crews to make sure they are doing okay as far as their equipment, their emotional well-being, bring them food when they are hungry when I can and take a little of the load off where I can,” said Draper.
When he gets to the Elmira Road station there are no crews to be found, they are either on the road or offloading patients at the hospital.
Draper moves on to the post at 65 Delhi Street, in the old Delhi Street Recreation Centre, where two crews have some down time after the busy morning Code Yellow.
“When you do get a couple of crews at the same place at the same time, they tend to play catch up and chat,” said Draper. ”Part of the job is speaking with the other crews, bouncing ideas off them about the calls, asking what they would do differently, things like that.
Draper leaves the city to complete his restocking and inventory duties in stations across the county, most of them tucked away in fire stations. One crew at the Rockwood station spend their shift in a room that is very small, but somehow fits two large chairs, a computer desk, a mini fridge and other amenities.
A call comes over the radio of a suspected overdose in Guelph’s downtown core. Draper returns to the city as the service falls under another Code Yellow.
He heads to the ambulance bay at the Emergency Department of Guelph General Hospital, which is often the bottleneck for paramedic services as crews wait for patients to be processed by hospital staff.
Draper said some people still believe that calling an ambulance will result in faster care at the hospital, but noted that isn’t the case.
“If you walk through the front doors of the hospital having a heart attack, you’re obviously going to be at the front of the line. Just because you stub your toe and take an ambulance doesn’t mean we are going to get you to the front of the line,” said Draper.
“We don’t want to deter people from calling the ambulance, but know when it’s appropriate,” he added.
Draper assists the crews in offloading patients or just temporarily taking their place to offer them a much-needed break during a busy shift.
“I’m helping crews clear up and move out, dealing with any problems, letting them vent,” he said.
With very few exceptions, call volumes for the paramedic service has been increasing every month for years. Draper expects that trend to continue as the population ages and the city continues to grow.
“We are trying to keep up and mitigate some of the increases, but there’s only so much we can do — these people still need to get to the hospital,” said Draper.
Back at the Clair Road station Draper’s shift ends at 6 p.m. Much as it began, this time he is briefing the oncoming supervisor about the day.
