Paramedics in Greater Montreal are under severe pressure this weekend, with nearly half of the ambulances out of service in the region due to staff shortages.

With 26 ambulances out of use in Montreal and Laval, Urgences Sante said calls are being prioritized based on their urgent severity.

Supervisor Vanessa Grillo said, "Calls where the person's life is not believed to be in immediate danger or there is no immediate risk that the person's health will deteriorate—for these types of calls, there may be a delay."

Managers are filling in tasks, and paramedics from other areas are also helping—but this is just a temporary solution.

The bigger problem is finding and training more people to do this job.

Grillo explained that "paramedics were on strike last year," which caused training to be temporarily stopped.

She said, "All of this places a heavy burden on paramedics." Retired paramedic Hal Newman runs The Last Ambulance page, a journalistic project by The Rover.

He said working when there are not enough staff is exhausting. He said, "My night will feel like hell in terms of continuous response, call after call."

"We all grew up with the idea that when we call 911, help comes—and now that is in question and this is a very frightening situation amid this shortage."