Yukon raises pay to draw in more EMS volunteers in rural communities

The Yukon Government is increasing the on-call honoraria for volunteer community responders.

As of Jan. 1, the department of Health and Social Services increased the on-call honoraria from $3.71 per hour, to $7.70 per hour.

"An increase was needed," said Yukon Emergency Medical Services' (EMS) acting chief Ryan Soucy. "We wanted to increase it to assist with recruitment and retention. As well as just to let them (volunteers) know that they're a valued member of the organization."

On top of the honoraria's increase, community responders also earn operational pay of up to $30.74 per hour for time spent in training or responding to EMS calls.

In rural communities, emergency medical services provided by staff paramedics are available on a Monday to Friday daytime schedule. But, if a medical emergency happens in the evening or on the weekend, the on-call volunteer paramedics are dispatched. In instances when an on-call paramedic isn't available, a paramedic from Whitehorse travels to the community by land or air.

Soucy said it's still to early to see if this will attract more volunteers but said he's optimistic.

"Two of the communities that we've identified hoping this will help with recruitment in is Pelly Crossing, and potentially Teslin," Soucy told CBC News.

"We're actively recruiting in all of our communities but we're hoping that this will increase incentives to come out to volunteer."

The town of Watson Lake's Fire Chief Joey Cherpin told CBC News that he supports the increase, and the government's reasons behind it.

Cherpin said his department has responded to calls meant for emergency medical professionals when none were available. He said having more volunteers would free up his crew for fire emergencies.

"Often times it's with lift assists or heavier hands on calls where the two person staffing isn't going to be adequate anyway," he said. "We don't mind providing that support in those cases however when there's staffing issues and then we are fulfilling the services of EMS that's when there's an issue."

Cherpin said many of the first responders in town do so as their second job.

He said the increase will make it a bit more worthwhile.

"Having that honoraria bumped up, that's huge for somebody who can now have a bit of that passive income," he said. "Might get called out once or twice in a shift kind of thing but still have a bit of passive income and be comfortable but also get that sense of fulfilment from serving their community."