This paramedic had post-traumatic stress injuries. So he built a healthier workplace

Paramedic Miles Randell still thinks about what he could have done for a friend had he been cleared to climb a mountain on a snowy January day in 2014.

Randell was working as a ground ambulance paramedic when a call came in about a man in cardiac arrest on North Vancouver’s Mount Seymour. 

Randell would learn it was his friend of more than 20 years, Tim Jones. 

But Randell says the provincial ambulance service’s risk-mitigation policy at the time meant that he and his colleagues weren’t allowed to go up the mountain that night. 

The paramedics tried to resuscitate him, but Randell says too much time had elapsed.

“I’ll never know for sure, but I feel like we would have given him a better chance at survival if we’d have gotten advanced care to him sooner,” he said.

As the years went by, Randell says he struggled more and more with the intensity of the calls.

“I was in a very, very dark place and I needed help, but the response at the time wasn’t helpful,” he told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s White Coat, Black Art.

Across Canada, several union officials who represent paramedics have sounded the alarm on the burnout, stress, and post-traumatic stress injuries that many paramedics are dealing with due to working conditions. 

The president of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. union said recently there is a “profound mental health crisis” within the profession. 

Canada-wide research shows that first responders, like paramedics, are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress injuries, depression, and anxiety at higher rates compared to the general public. 

Dr. Margaret McKinnon, a professor and associate chair of research with McMaster University’s psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences department, says that’s because first responders face many different stressful situations in their work. 

“That can have a widespread impact upon how they perform their daily duties, impact on their family life, impact on their own mental health and well-being,” she said.

In 2018, Randell says his career as a paramedic with the provincial ambulance service ended when he was deemed disabled and unemployable because of his mental health and post-traumatic stress injuries. 

So Randell says he went about creating his own team of first responders. He founded Technical Evacuation Advanced Aero Medical (TEAAM), a non-profit that responds to calls in remote, wilderness areas by helicopter. 

The organization has mental health support baked in, says Randell. Each TEAAM member chooses the person they’re most comfortable working with as their partner — or “wingperson” as they call it. And each base has a point person who does regular check-ins with team members. 

Creating TEAAM

In addition to wanting to establish a supportive workplace, Randell says part of the motivation in creating TEAAM in 2018 was to address a gap in B.C’s health-care system. 

The nurses, physicians, paramedics and other health-care professionals working with TEAAM offer advanced care in the field, often in remote areas ground ambulances can’t access.

“When it comes to wilderness air ambulance work in Canada, we’re the first and only that are actually doing that type of work,” he said.

Dan Roddick says he was initially drawn to TEAAM because of what he calls the “wow factor:” the high-level medical care that is given to patients in remote spaces. 

Roddick, a full-time paramedic with the provincial ambulance service and a paid-on-call firefighter, says he stuck around to work with TEAAM on his off-time because of how much staff wellness is prioritized.

Roddick points to a recent difficult mission with several logistical challenges after which Randell called him in the late evening to see if he needed any support.

“Working in the medical field is hard on the soul, but TEAAM prioritizes mental wellness and supporting one another through any way possible,” he said in an email to CBC.

The role of the workplace

McKinnon says it’s important for organizations to both support and connect first responders to help as needed.  

She adds establishing a workplace where concerns can be raised without being reprimanded, and communicating when worker feedback is implemented, are key actions leaders can take.  

What TEAAM does with the wingperson program and other supports is an encouraging development, she says.

CBC asked B.C. Emergency Health Services about Randell’s specific circumstances and the decisions around the response to the 2014 call on Mount Seymour. An emailed statement said the organization is unable to comment on confidential human resources matters and decisions around emergency response due to privacy legislation.

The statement went on to say that, generally speaking, the organization responds to calls as quickly as possible while considering patient safety and the well-being of staff. The statement listed the mental health supports BC EHS provides now, including an employee and family assistance program and a specific team that hosts debriefs and supports workers after challenging calls. 

McKinnon says she’s optimistic that things can change for the better for first responders, but notes this work requires resources, and that means provincial and federal dollars. 

“If we don’t have the resources, then we can’t enact these changes, right? That’s a pragmatic response, but I think it’s one that’s really important because we need those supports,” she said.