Owies

Hey guys-

I need prayer for my injuries - I have many still from my car accident in August :(. My back is having a lot of problems and my neck and my Left arm. I haven't been able to work since and it's really been a struggle, specially since I signed a new lease right before the accident. WHAT KIND OF TIMING IS THAT! So basically I need to heal like RIGHT NOW or I don't know how this next month is going to go once my EI runs out. Trust is hard isn't it?? I've heard there is no such thing as a worried bird... so I'm trying not to be a worried bird!

In other news- The Government Legislated BC Paramedics back to work (In other words they swung the dictatorial hammer down on us) while we were in the middle of a vote which is absolutely stripping us of our rights to democracy and the right to bargaining. Our 7 Month strike was a waste- VANOC gave BC Ambulance an Ultimatum and was the driving force behind the legislation. A lot of people think our strike was just about money- and the CEO's of BC Ambulance do a good job of smearing that in the media- but the facts are we need more Ambulances- more paramedics- training and a decent wage (more then 2 $ an hour to wear the pager!!) - Plus we need Benefits - I am not entitled to Benefits for 6 years which is crazy.... The last 5 years Paramedics have gotten zero across the board every time our contract has come up for renewal and now when it is our turn the Govt calls poor.... we are now 35% behind all other EMS on the pay scale- Please take a minute and get informed if you haven't already and check out the site

http://www.saveourparamedics.com/index.php

The way I have been treated by this employer makes me not want to be a Paramedic. I love my job and I love my work but it makes it very hard to work when you are treated so poorly. I paid my own training- got stationed 3 1/2 hours away from my home for my 6 month probation with no choice- Having to pay my own transportation- to sit in a rural community for 2$ an hour with zero benefits- zero chance of having a "full time" position for 6 years and when I do get the position I MUST re-locate to Vancouver- before that time I am classified as "part time" and I average over 100 hours of work per pay period which is mostly pager pay at 2$ and 10$ an hour- I can literally make more money at star bucks and get benefits along with it- I feel completely used and abused and so does every other medic in this province. I am embarrassed to work for a service that is in such disrepair- Many stations are falling apart- are mouse infested- One station in Vancouver is in an old crack house!! Some stations are in hotels and we are the laughing stock of the EMS world- we don't even have GPS- People wonder why it can take up to 30 minutes for the ambulance to respond and its because there simply are not enough cars on the road and BC Ambulance refuses to put out more ambulances and more full time positions because it means more money... For the 7 month strike we were legally bound to work OT and if asked to work OT you could not refuse- The service runs on medics doing OT- after 7 long months medics were exhausted and when the strike ended everyone worked only their scheduled shifts and 1/3 of ambulances went out of service because there simply was no one to work the overtime needed- and medics are blamed for letting the cars go down when this issue is one we have been fighting for that BC Ambulance turns their back on.... ARG

So here we are with a forced contract that will last just until the olympics are over- to make Gordo and VANOC happy of course- and then its back to the bargain table where again, as we've seen, the government will slam it's hammer down on us because we simply are not important enough or like gordon campbell says - we are on the same level as pharmacists-

I guess this has turned into a rant- if you are still reading thanks- please pray for guidance for me - I really am tired of being treated so poorly by this ambulance service and I've barely been in 10 minutes. It's been very discouraging and I don't know if I should return to school to presue emergency relief on an international level or if I should stick this out....

Thanks for listening to my rant you guys. I miss you all!

If you don't know - Kevin Falcon is the Health Minister of BC who royally messed us around and blamed the back to work legislation on the Swine flu- Saying we need to end our strike to better serve the public in this pandemic.... even tho we were working at over capacity because of our legal strike laws...... WHAT PLANET IS THIS MAN FROM... Oh yeah and he later told everyone he lied when the letter from VANOC leaked to the media.. lying doesn't make friends!!