The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 1, 2006 - AQ -

| Paramedic pay gets better —
| but more changes are needed

-TERRACE- BASED
paramedics working for the

'  proviticial government now

have better pay and working
the MLA. .

conditions, says Skeena
NDP MLA Robin Austin...
‘Terrace was reclassified
from a rural to an urban cen-
e in late last year, allowing.
paramedics, ‘to be paid. for
‘being on call.

| | The change, ‘which had ‘
~ been in the.works all through »

, 2005, came as a result of

_ tential,” Austin says.

hard work and lobbying on ,

the part of NDP. MLAs. in
~ the interior and rural parts of
the province, says Austin.
_° «He says the MLAs asked
"questions in the legislature
and kept the issue going un-
tila resolution was reached,

Terrace was one of 10.

“communities to: be redesig-
"” nated from rural to urban.

»° But Austin. “wams,. that
os outlying areas in the Skeena
area, ’ such as ‘Kitwanga and

. Gitanyow, will not.see the.
same benefit and could face’ ”

paramedics who are paid
$2 an hour to wear a pager
on call and then are.paid to
scale when called upon, says

“Give the current pay |
structure, ‘paramedics are
choosing to work in urban

"and metropolitan . areas to.

maximize’ their earning po-

- Better pay is one incen-.
tive to. keep ‘paramedics ins

rural communities, he says.

Ivs difficult for remote
paramedics to train in com-.

_ munities such as the Nass

Valley because they’re only

paid. on an on-call. basis,
. Austin continues.

“Once’ they’ve got the
training théy’re attracted: to .
urban or rural settings,” he
says. .
Those ‘who live close to ~

.a big city, like Terrace will

want to work in ‘that city
rather. than i in the remote or .

.Tural areas.

. the. threat, of losing « their ”

- paramedics.
“ Urban’ ‘paramedics: are
» paid to scale from the mo-

If the government wants”
the same level of service and
doesn’t want, anyone dy-

‘ing, it neéds to find a way to

_ pay paramedics to.stay once:

* ment they, are on call for.a-

shift compared to rural para-
.. Medics who are paid $10 an
hour to be on call and remote |

they’re trained, Austin says. -
Money is a huge incentive

_and it’s difficult for those in
remote areas to afford to get

| Crime inches up —

» CRIME INCREASED i in: Terrace with person and property
~. offences and other crimes topping the list for 2005.
Total. Criminal Code offences rose. to 3, 615i in 2005 from -

- 3,289 in 2004. .

“It’s about a 10 per cent, increase across the board rough
* dy,” said Terrace RCMP inspector Marlin Degrand prior to”
his depature for an Edmonton posting. . -.

‘Other. criminal code offences, which inchide those Such
as disturbing the peace, bail violations, arson and criminal
harassment, numbered 1,683 compared to 1, 524 i in 2004.

Persons offences increased to 514 from 493. Property of:

fences rose to 1,120 from 1,074. :

—

-Degrand said each officer works .on. “about “100° “eases,
which i is about the. average for officers i in other detachments

in B.C.

The number of plain clothes officers here has dropped -
from four to three but the remaining: constables still ‘Kept

criminals on the run.

2004.

be filled s soon, Degrand said.

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training.
‘There’s not enough mon-

ey to attract people that are —
- heeded in these areas, he

says.
..“J mean ultimately if we

“want to have good services

in remote areas we have to

ensure évery community has -

enough people fully, trained

“> to be paramedics and -have - °
access” to, equipment,” ” he |

says,

has a heart attack in the

winter, that person is likely. ...
to die before making it to -
Smithers or Terrace hospi- |

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‘Ifa person in Gitanyow

tals, he says.
At the present time, para-

medics training in rural and.

remote communities .must

' pay their own travel expens-
es and receive no remunera-

‘tion while training.
Paying people.

‘incentive, he says.

. Says paying rural and remote

- paramedics would have to be

‘budgeted for with revenues.

‘government .can do that

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