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CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
City announces multi-year plan to hire more paramedics, EMS staff
The City of Toronto has announced a new multi-year plan to hire more paramedics and EMS staff to keep up with an increase in medical and emergency 911 calls. The plan will see the city hire 362 front-line paramedics, superintendents and support staff over the next three years, said Mayor Olivia Chow at a news conference Wednesday. "Torontonians deserves a paramedic service that is quick to respond in an emergency because people cannot wait. A service that will be there for them when they need it," Chow said. Deputy Chief Melanie Jordison of Toronto Paramedic Services says the city is in desperate need of more EMS workers, especially in light of a recent rise in shootings across the city. "It's been a difficult year, lots of difficult calls. We have a number of measures to support our staff internally, but we recognize it has a toll on them," said Jordison. Last year, Toronto paramedics reported that in 2023 there were 1,200 occasions where no ambulances were available to respond to an emergency call. That was up from only 29 occasions in 2019. CUPE Local 416, the union representing 1,400 paramedics working in Toronto, has also reported high instances of burnout in recent years. "They are under a tremendous amount of pressure right now, and that certainly is something that we're we're trying to find a solution to and continue to be open to further solutions," said Peter Shirer, vice chair of CUPE Local 416, at Tuesday's news conference. The announcement comes just days after an incident where a 911 caller was put on hold for almost seven minutes while a teenage boy was dying from a gunshot wound — an incident city officials have promised to review. "I can't speak to the whole process of that call specifically," Jordison said at Tuesday's news conference. "But it's definitely something that we're reviewing." Chow said she's hopeful that this new staffing plan will help reduce 911 call response times, adding the city is hiring more 911 call centre operators as well. The EMS staffing plan will cost around $52 million dollars to implement, but Chow expects that cost to be shared with the province through its Land Ambulance Services Grant.
CTV News
3 days ago
- CTV News
Review launched after 911 caller reportedly put on hold for 10-15 minutes following shooting
Police are on the scene of a fatal shooting in Toronto's Mount Denis. (CTV Toronto) Toronto Paramedic Services (TPS) says it is reviewing a 911 call of the shooting in the Mount Dennis neighboruhood over the weekend that left a 15-year-old boy dead after reports that a caller was left on hold for upwards of 15 minutes. TPS Deputy Chief Melanie Jordison said the 911 Dispatch Centre prioritize calls based on their life-threatening nature. 'I can't speak to the whole process of that call specifically, but it's definitely something that we're reviewing,' she said during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday when asked about the paramedics' response time to the shooting near Buttonwood and Charlton Settlement avenues, west of Weston Road and Jane Street. Melanie Jordison Toronto EMS Deputy Chief Melanie Jordison speaks to reporters at a news conference with Mayor Olivia Chow on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Patrick Darrah/CTV News Toronto) The review comes after reports that one person who called 911 for help placed on hold for 10 to 15 minutes, prompting them just to flag a passing vehicle to transport the victim to the nearby West Park Healthcare Centre. 'We hailed a car. We got him in the hospital there. I know there's no emergency there, but 911 wasn't answering,' one witness told CTV News Toronto on Monday. According to the witness, the victim was with two friends near a bench at the time of the shooting. He recounted that the victim had trouble breathing after being shot. 'His eyes were just white and he was looking at me like in shock. ... He was clearly…like he was dying,' he said. Toronto police said the victim was later transferred by paramedics to a trauma centre, where he died shortly after. No suspect information has been released. Police oversee the 911 dispatch centre, and according to spokesperson Stephanie Sayer, the first call about the shooting came in at 10:01 p.m. and was in the queue for six minutes and 43 seconds. She said police and paramedics arrived at the scene at 10:11 p.m. Mayor Olivia Chow called the wait time 'unacceptable.' Mayor Olivia Chow Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow speaks at a news conference on Tuesday June 10, 2025. (Patrick Darrah/CTV News Toronto) 'People need help immediately when they call. As I said, every moment counts,' Chow said at the news conference, where she announced the city's three-year hiring plan to boost Toronto paramedic staff. 'Wait times have come down over the last year, but it's absolutely not good enough.' This year, the city plans to hire 112 Toronto paramedics. 'These shootings are devastating and communities are fed up with the gun violence,' Chow said. With files from Joanna Lavoie
