Occupational stress injuries impact paramedics across Ontario

Officials with Greater Sudbury Paramedics Services are dealing with staffing challenges, with 20 paramedics off because of occupational stress injuries.

Officials with Greater Sudbury Paramedics Services are dealing with significant staffing challenges.

Although it is fully staffed, 20 paramedics are off right now because of occupational stress injuries.

Like several paramedic services across Ontario, Greater Sudbury deputy chief Paul Kadwell said there are staffing challenges due to the impacts of the profession.

Kadwell points to a recent study by the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs.

“A study across the province to get a sense of how many paramedics are off due to occupational stress injuries and that (found), on average, one out of 10 paramedics are off due to occupational stress injuries,” he said.

“That aligns with what we are seeing within our paramedic service here.”

Kadwell said there are various reasons for the occupational stress injuries.

“It could be anything from the types of calls they are experiencing, also just their workload that they have also experienced,” he said.

Advanced paramedic program

Within the service, there are currently 10 staff enrolled in the advanced paramedic program at College Boreal.

“One of the issues that we have in our service is the advanced care paramedic level,” Kadwell said.

“Over the past five years, we have seen a decrease of 18 per cent. We have competing priorities with other agencies such as Ornge and neighbouring municipalities.”

Officials with Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services attend job fairs for recruitment and are working on improving wellness for employees over the long term.

“Within our service, we are piloting a wellness coordinator position, (from) which we have seen great benefits,” he said.

“During the 2026 budget process, we are bringing a business case together to make that position permanent.”

Despite 20 paramedics being off, the service has managed to be fully staffed through a combination of 190 full- and part-time community, primary and advanced paramedics.

The service area they cover is 3,200 square kilometres with an average of 32,000 calls a year.