by Katrine Conroy on Thursday Jul 15 2021
Dear Friends, Neighbours and Community Members, When you call 911 for a medical emergency, you should feel confident that help is on the way. We’re taking action this week to improve B.C.’s ambulance system, making it faster and more responsive, and a better place to work for paramedics. We’re hiring 85 new full-time paramedics and 30 new full-time dispatchers. We’re also funding 22 new ambulances around the province. To better serve rural communities, we’re converting 22 rural ambulance stations to 24/7 ALPHA stations. We’re also directing health authorities to add additional staff at hospital emergency departments to receive patients from ambulances – so that paramedics can get back on the road to respond to calls more quickly.
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“Today’s announcement is intended to focus on strengthening the foundation of emergency health services so that we can improve service to patients and communities and the day-to-day work experience of our employees,” said authority interim president David Byres and executive vice-president Susan Wannamaker in a letter to staff Wednesday, the same day as Dix announced the changes to B.C. ambulance service.
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Byres and Wannamaker went on to discount the possibility that the moves were the result of a blame-placing exercise.
Man critically injured in trailer fire at Cultus Lake campground
A 74-year-old man is in critical condition after being hurt in a fire that broke out at a campground on Cultus Lake in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.
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CBC News ·
Posted: Jul 14, 2021 2:42 PM PT | Last Updated: July 14
A trailer is engulfed in flames in a fire at the Sunnyside Campground on Cultus Lake east of Vancouver on Tuesday.(Submitted to CBC News)
A 74-year-old man is in critical condition after being hurt in a fire that broke out at a campground on Cultus Lake in B.C. s Fraser Valley.
VANCOUVER The B.C. government is reconstituting the BC Emergency Health Services board of directors and increasing funding for ambulance service in the province after it faced intense criticism in the wake of the recent heat dome. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the changes during a news conference Wednesday, saying that improvements to the system are needed. The events of the last few weeks make it clear that there s more work to be done, Dix said. Let there be no doubt our emergency health service system must work better for the people who call upon it and for the people who answer the call.
B.C. promises more paramedics, dispatchers, ambulances after deadly heatwave
Last Updated Jul 14, 2021 at 7:44 pm PDT
FILE - A B.C. Ambulance Service paramedic wearing a face shield, an N95 mask and gloves communicates with a colleague moving a patient from an ambulance to the emergency department at Royal Columbian Hospital, in New Westminster, B.C., on April 12, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Summary
B.C. says 85 paramedics and 30 dispatchers will be hired after hundreds of people died in a heatwave a few weeks ago
Health Minister Adrian Dix says 22 new ambulances are coming to B.C.
Province says BCEHS board will focus solely on ambualnce services