What is more important, the Olympics or your life?
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Updated: July 28, 2009 4:03 PM
Editor: The Standard
Have you have stopped to think what life would be like if you could not pick up the phone and summon an ambulance to come to your aid?
On a professional level, I have worked alongside paramedics for 25 years in a hospital emergency room and appreciate their much-needed service to the public. Their job is dangerous, highly stressful, and physically demanding.
On a personal level, I can thank them for coming to my rescue as my throat closed due to an allergic reaction and I could not breathe. There was no time to drive myself to a hospital. As they rushed in and began working on me, I can remember thinking, “I am so glad we have paramedics”. If it was YOU gasping for breath, I am sure you would agree that they are a vital part of the community’s health and well-being, and are worth every penny they earn.
No-one seems too concerned about their job issues or the possibility of an extreme staff shortage, as fewer people are choosing this field of work because of wage and working conditions. Their “strike” has been so restricted (due to government legislation), you have hardly noticed they’ve been on strike. They cannot picket, reduce workloads, or walk out.
It has been very frustrating for me to follow the plight of the paramedics’ labour dispute. They are so essential to a community’s well-being that they cannot go “on strike”. What does that tell you?
We must ask ourselves, “What is more important - the Olympics or our lives?
K. Brown
Burnaby, BC
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