Greetings Readers!
My intention in starting this blog is, largely, to vent my personal frustrations with an industry that is, from top to bottom, less than it should/could be. We are talking about a profession, without which, a large group of people would be without the essential transportation they require to obtain necessary medical treatment.
By now it may, or may not, be obvious that I am referring of course to the wonderful, wacky, world of Non-Emergency Patient Transportation. This is an interesting world, one filled with head-scratching ridiculousness that somethings leaves me feeling angry with a system that is incomplete. I have been involved with this industry for a number of years, with a number of different companies. The reason for this? Well, I am a certified Primary Care Paramedic, registered with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Longterm Care - Emergency Health Services Branch, but have so far been unable to land a job with an Emergency Medical Service as a PCP. Ontario, at the moment, is positively flooded with qualified individuals looking for work. But for various reasons (economy, politics, tuition-hungry colleges) their are far fewer jobs available than their are qualified people to do them.
Some people might assume that I am bitter about missing out on countless opportunities for more gratifying employment... but they'd be wrong. For the most part, I have no one to blame for my current employment than myself. If I had studied harder, practiced more often, and not made certain choices I could very well be speeding of to a cardiac arrest call in an ambulance right now. But I am not. C'est la vie! I do enjoy my job. I still have the opportunity to offer aid to people in times of need. Granted, this does not take place in the same acute setting as with EMS, but what a great many Transfer Service Staff seem to forget is that we still deal with people...people who need our help. They need our help to get home, to get to a more qualified facility for their care, to get to their radiation/chemotherapy appointments, whatever the case may be...we still help people.
To close out this first of many posts, I would also like to point out that this is not meant as an attack on any of the many private transfer services currently operating within the GTA. Yes, their are some very bad ones; and their are some not so bad ones. This is meant as an on-going commentary about the industry as a whole, how we impact the health care system in Ontario, and the issues that arise from legislative and legal issues surrounding the lack of governance of this overlooked, and yet highly relied-upon, profession.
Cheers!
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