A Quebec paramedic in burnout because of his poor working conditions wanted to “return to the sources” of his love for the profession by writing a book. It rather pushed him to want to leave him.
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“If the pre-hospital area was a house, it is clearly on fire right now. The government has its back turned, and the ambulance companies are planting flowers in front of the house,” denounces Martin Viau, who has more than 13 years of experience.
Photo provided by Éditions du Journal
In a way, it is to pay homage to his profession, “often forgotten”, and his colleagues who practice it every day, that he wanted to put his thoughts on paper and tell his story.
“If there’s one thing my book might bring, it would be to shed light on what we do and under what circumstances,” he explains. Our job is difficult, but it is beautiful. And it’s not for everyone. Not everyone is able to do it on a daily basis and especially for a long time.
“It doesn’t make sense anymore”
Photo provided by Martin Viau
As for many of his colleagues, the pandemic has been difficult for Martin Viau. At one point, the fatigue was no longer tolerable and he fell into burnout.
“I decided to choose myself,” he says. The work overload, the lack of support, the lack of succession, at some point, it no longer makes sense.
With this step back, Martin Viau has decided to fulfill a dream of his youth and to write a book in which he addresses with delicacy, but accuracy, several themes, including the relationship he had almost daily with death, most time in brutal circumstances.
He had been taking notes on his findings regarding the paramedic profession for years, and they are far from reassuring.
“We don’t see any concrete changes on the ground. There is no addition of vehicles, no more cohorts of students, underlines Martin Viau. Compulsory overtime, shifts that are difficult to fill, breaks in service, response times that are too long for the population, it’s an endless wheel, everywhere in Quebec.
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He is considering leaving the profession.
Faced with this situation, many paramedics in the province have decided to completely change jobs.
“I am one of the people who are in reflection, even in the process [de quitter la profession]. I went back to school last summer, alongside my job. I have reduced my availability”, explains the one who is thinking of turning to the translation industry.
“It’s not the job you don’t like, on the contrary. We love our colleagues, we love what we do. But we leave the conditions, ”he adds.
The latter summons the government to act, while the population of Quebec suffers every day.
“It takes a specific, structured and long-term plan. Worse, it had to be done yesterday, we are already late, we can no longer afford to wait,” says Martin Viau.
They were the victims of the accident
Photo provided by Martin Viau
While going to an emergency call, he and his colleague were involved in a violent face-off.
Paramedics are used to rushing to the scene of an accident, to be among the first to intervene. But Martin Viau found himself at the heart of a violent face-to-face. At this point, the roles were reversed.
“It upset me a lot, admits the paramedic. It is us who [allons] help these people normally…”
Precisely, on the way to an emergency situation, flashing lights on, nothing suggested that he and his colleague were going to be run into at high speed.
“n a snap of the fingers, everything exploded. I remember flashes, noises, smoke,” recalls Mr. Viau.
His first instinct was to want to go “rescue his partner“, but he quickly had to admit that he was in no condition to do so, too much in shock.
A whirlwind
“Everything was just a whirlwind over which I had no control. It had never happened to me. It should never happen. We, the paramedics, manage these kinds of situations. Instinctively, we take matters into our own hands. This time, everything escaped me. Who was I now? A victim?”, he writes in his book, of regarding 300 pages, where he recounts several significant situations of his career, such as this accident
The first months following this brutal collision were difficult due to the concussion he suffered: intense fatigue, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, difficulties in understanding, headaches.
More Sequels
Even today, he lives with the following-effects of this brutal accident.
“I had impacts on my hearing for easily two years. But there are things that will never go away. I have impacts on my short-term memory, I have to take notes. Loud, sudden noises startle me a lot,” explains Martin Viau.
♦ One Last Ambulance Ride: Stories from a Paramedic will be in bookstores from April 5.
