Saskatoon looking to Australia to address paramedic shortage

Seven Australian paramedics have uprooted their lives and moved across the world to Saskatoon. Thursday was the first day of their training.

Patrick James is from Brisbane, one of the seven paramedics seeking a career in Canada.

"I came over with a friend from uni. He's been to Canada a few times for travel, and loved it. He was nagging at me a couple of weeks to apply for this opportunity. I didn't even know it was available. He goes ‘yeah, no, apply, apply,’ and here I am,” said James.

Medavie Health Services West has had an ongoing recruitment program in Australia for several years because their training level is similar to that in Saskatchewan.

In Canada, the medical field has been struggling to fill vacant positions. Australia has the opposite problem, according to Angela Sereda, manager of mobile integrated health with Medavie.

"We have too many jobs, not enough paramedics. They have too many paramedics, not enough jobs. So it’s a great opportunity. Medavie was the first organization to ever implement this recruitment along with the Saskatchewan College of Paramedics,” said Sereda.

John Court says he came to Canada from Melbourne for the training opportunity.

"Me and my partner were looking for other places in the world to live that take Australian paramedics. We looked into the UK, Canada, and Dubai, and it turned out that Canada had some of the highest trained paramedics in the world,” said Court.

Once they're done training, they'll be filling jobs here in the community.

"If I could describe them in one word. I'd say committed. The fact that they are taking a leap of faith on Medavie to come halfway across the world to work for this organization says a lot about them, shows a lot about the risks that they're willing to take,” said Sereda.

Getting used to the Canadian climate could take some time, however.

"I'll definitely be investing in a good pair of thermals,” said Court.