According to Yukon government representatives, the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) situation in Dawson City has calmed down considerably over what it was last fall.

At that time, Dawson City Fire Chief Matt Masseray had some harsh words for the situation in the town, mostly about ambulance drivers’ work.

Masseray wasn’t a happy camper that his staff were being called upon to carry out paramedic work for the town due to a shortage of paramedics.

Masseray told the Star that there were only two full-time paramedics in town – and the volunteers with the service have dwindled to the point of being unavailable.

That’s left the fire department and the RCMP being pressed into service to fill the gap for community needs.

Masseray bluntly said his people didn’t sign up to be paramedics.

“They can’t rely on us to do their work for them. This not a community responsibility,” he said.

For Masseray, the difficulty is that while the fire department is being expected to act as fill-ins, it is often not being told when it should be on-call, which is unacceptable.

Ryan Sousy, the acting chief of Yukon EMS, told the Star Feb. 8 that things have improved.

Soucy was reluctant to say the service in Dawson back to a full complement, however. It’s something of a semantical debate, but he said, “We’re always actively recruiting.

“If anyone is interested in signing up, please go to Yukon.ca. Or go in and speak to the local superintendents.”

Soucy was insisting on making a demarcation between fully staffed and being able to offer full coverage.

“There’s a difference between staffing and coverage,” he stressed.

“We always have the ability to respond to request for services through different strategies and mitigation techniques within Yukon EMS. We have increased the number of responders.

“In recent weeks, our ambulances have been able to respond to request for services,” he said. “As always.”

Four new volunteers have come forward to help staff the services.

“That’s been very successful,” he said.

Soucy said job ads in the local newspaper has helped out with recruitment, and the media attention given to the shortages also caught the public eye.

He said the recent increase in honouraria on-call payments is likely helping too, although that is still being looked at.

“We’re evaluating that over the next three to six months,” Soucy said.

The government announced Jan. 31 that community responders will earn honouraria of $7.70 per hour retroactive to Jan. 1, up from $3.71.

They earn operational pay of $30.74 per hour during calls or while training.