Alberta paramedics sound the alarm over shift vacancies ahead of the holidays [Video]

An Alberta paramedic is sounding the alarm after providing Global News with a series of screen shots showing more than 200 shifts on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve are currently unfilled.

Going by just the name ‘David’, out of fear of losing his job, the paramedic of more than a decade, says each year around the holidays, it gets worse and worse.

“We’re providing a service that people absolutely depend on,” said David. “It used to be hard to get on in Calgary; you would have to start somewhere else in the province and work you way to a position in Calgary.  Now you can get a spot that’s full-time right out of school.”

Mike Parker with the Health Sciences Association of Alberta says these shifts not being filled points to a larger issue within Alberta’s healthcare system.

“We don’t have the folks to answer the phone, …