THUNDER BAY — A recruitment campaign is underway for Superior North EMS and it comes with the potential of earning thousands of dollars in bonus cash.
"We're offering students that are graduating in this upcoming cohort to come to work for Superior North EMS, and we're going to offer them $4,000 if they put in 2,080 hours into the ambulance working," said EMS Chief Shane Muir.
"They'll be eligible for that funding in cost recovery for their education such as books, tuition fees and those sorts of things," Muir said.
Muir noted this is in addition to the learn and stay grant that is connected to the City of Thunder Bay, which strives to bring students to study and stay in the city.
The cost recovery program is available to all graduating EMS students at colleges across the province the chief said.
"This is a great incentive, something that others aren't really offering, especially in those services down in Southern and Eastern Ontario," he said.
Muir added he wants to capitalize on what the region has to offer in terms of lifestyle and quality of life, "It really gives us an added opportunity to incentivize people to come down here into the northern region and really see what we have to offer for lifestyle, quality of life, the outdoors, things that they may not have access to.
"It's a great opportunity for them to come and explore and also make a lot of money while they're working as paramedics," Muir said.
In addition to the new incentive program, Muir said the agency has upped its social media presence, which includes a new video that showcases a primary care paramedic's work-life balance in the region.
The chief noted that having an online presence is crucial.
"It's where a lot of people are going for their information," Muir said.
"That's the first place people are going to go and look, and we just want to make sure that we have that presence and we're showing the content that really reflects what our culture here is so it gives them a true, accurate picture of what's going on here in the north and what they have to look forward to if they need to come here and work."
While juggling schedule availability, time off, and various types of leave for over 200 paramedics, Muir is on the lookout for dozens of new recruits.
"If we had 40 paramedics tomorrow, we would be considering ourselves lucky," he said.
While 40 new hires may seem like a lofty goal, Muir said it will be mutually beneficial for the service, current service members and the new hires.
"Right now, we're having an incredible strain on our health care system, and paramedics are at the forefront of that," Muir said.
"Getting in new recruits is really going to help them [current staff] get their vacation time, get the time off that they desperately need right now."
He said it's also about balance and longevity.
"And we want to look after our paramedics that we have employed right now by helping them get that time off and really keeping them refreshed and resilient because it's very important to this career and for longevity."
Details on opportunities with Superior North EMS can be located here.
