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Local paramedic and association president pleased to finally get vaccines

Paramedics added to list of vaccine recipients

LAKELAND - On the drive to Edmonton from his hometown in Lac La  Biche last week to get the first round of the two-injection COVID-19 vaccine, the president of the Alberta Paramedics Association told the POST he is happy to be finally getting the vaccination along with other provincial paramedics.

The timing of the interview came as the timing of the vaccination roll-out finally reached ambulance crews. 

Almost a month after vaccinations in the province were made available to seniors and some healthcare workers, paramedics had still not been included on the list. That changed last week following petitions and an outcry from healthcare workers and unions. On Wednesday, Dusty Myshrall was on his way to get his needle, finally joining others in his front-line career.

Myshrall was shocked to see that paramedics weren’t involved in the first phase of the vaccine rollouts because they are dealing with COVID-19 patients all of the time. As first responders, they never know what they could be walking into, and Myshrall says that is all the more reason why paramedics need to get the vaccine.

“We’re a critical workforce in healthcare, and also we are constantly dealing with the most vulnerable population,” said Myshrall. “Paramedics really are an extension of the emergency room. So, our paramedics working on the ground are going into uncontrolled environments where there could be multiple people with COVID-19 and not even know it.” 

Once paramedics realized they were not in the first phase of the vaccine roll-out, Myshrall says that many opened the lines of communication with Alberta Health officials, and after that it didn’t take long before paramedics were required to get the vaccine.

“It was less than an hour after talking with the health minister that paramedics were getting notifications that they can book their COVID-19 vaccine appointments, and 24 hours after that, paramedics were starting to get the vaccines already. So, once they made the announcement, it was pretty quick from there for paramedics to get the vaccine underway,” he said.

Having the ability to get the vaccine so quickly was a relief to many paramedics, says Myshrall, as the COVID-19 numbers rise, especially in rural areas where many of his colleagues can come face-to-face with the virus more frequently due to smaller staffing rosters, and ambulance transfers to larger centres.

People with COVID-19 needing to be admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) make up many of ambulance trips paramedics have to take, says Myshrall, which means they have to spend hours in an ambulance driving to Edmonton in close quarters with the most critical COVID-19 patients. This is why Myshrall is grateful they are able to get the vaccine so paramedics aren’t at risk when they are trying to save lives. 

“I think the biggest thing for paramedics is we want to be recognized as healthcare workers because we are healthcare workers, and we are first responders,” he said. “We should have been in the first phase, but now that we are, we are happy to be able to get the vaccine so we can be protected against COVID-19 while on the job.” 

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