Saskatoon-based paramedic docuseries readying for Season 5 finale

Over the past four years, a lot has happened on Saskatoon’s streets.

When it comes to paramedic response to incidents throughout the city, it’s likely being filmed for CityTV’s Paramedics: Emergency Response. The TV program has been running for four years now, and is facilitated by Medavie Health Services West.

Its director of public affairs, Troy Davies, said Thursday’s episode is the season finale, the show’s fifth so far.

“We didn’t know exactly how this was going to play out, to be honest,” he said. “When Fahrenheit Films approached me on the project, they asked, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot. But when I watched the pilot, I knew that we had something pretty special.”

Davies added the show shines a light on the work paramedics do in Saskatoon, along with what they face every day throughout the province.

“It was a way that our profession was able to be shown across the country … Once we saw that and watched the pilot, instantly Rogers phoned us from Toronto and said, ‘Well, we want to do a Season 1 with you guys,’ signed on for eight episodes and we went on along our way,” he explained.

“A lot of credit has to go the paramedics who are in the show. We probably had close to 20 to 24 paramedics in the show over the past five seasons. We’re at about 30 episodes that we’ve done.”

When it comes to what the paramedics have to do day in and day out, there are a lot of cameras capturing their every move, Davies said.

“They are all camera’ed up, from cam-pro’s on their chests to on the stretcher … We’ve got 30 different camera angles in the back of the ambulance and on the inside of the ambulance and on the front. They’re being filmed throughout the 12-hour shift,” he said.

Davies believes the documentary series is the only one of its kind in Canada to continue filming throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Out last season was the most impactful, just due to the fact with how our profession has changed forever from PPE to how we gown up to how we mask up … Things were changing on a daily basis,” he said.

“People get to see it, up front … It really showed how COVID affected our population, and our city and every city. We were able to show how mental health, and even the overdose crisis that we were starting to see … you can see it right on the show, how things have escalated.”

Davies said Medavie has been contacted to get a sixth season off the ground. Talks are ongoing, but if it is green lit for another year, filming is expected to begin June 1.

Thursday’s Season 5 finale will be aired on CityTV at 10 p.m. Saskatchewan time.