Paramedic shortage in BC could lead to long holiday wait-times
Posted December 22, 2017 7:02 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KELOWNA (NEWS 1130) – A cautionary warning if you’re planning to hit the backcountry, Okanagan or northern BC for the holidays with the busy travel season officially in full swing — you may be waiting a while for medical help.
Cameron Eby with the Ambulance Paramedics of BC says there are a couple of problems.
The first is that paramedics who serve remote communities are typically on-call and only available via pager, and admittedly, it takes them a while to get to their station to respond to a call. The other issue, he finds, are trauma centres in the province are spread too far and wide so by the time you get the urgent help needed — it may be too late.
Eby admits they don’t have all the services needed in some of these areas, adding they are facing some major challenges hiring people.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult to recruit and retain paramedics into that model because, frankly, they’re just not being paid. So, there’s a significant investment for them up front to go get their education and then there isn’t a real earning potential on the other end of it.”
He explains the downfalls of the on-call system.
“Paramedics are carrying a pager and they’re being paid a small amount and when and if there is an actual ambulance call, they come into the station which obviously takes time. If you’re waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive, that’s not acceptable. Whether you’re in a metropolitan area and you’re waiting hours for an ambulance, which does occur, or you’re in rural or remote BC and you’re waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive. It’s not OK.”
Another obstacle he points to is trying to recruit paramedics to remote regions where the pay isn’t great and many don’t want to live there.
“Obviously, your level of care in our healthcare system, whether you’re talking pre-hospital or hospital care, depends on what community you live in. It’s not realistic that we’re going to have a cardiac surgeon or trauma surgeon in every community of the province.”
Eby says they are working with BC Health Services to help fix the problem by turning on-call positions into permanent jobs.
He admits the current model isn’t perfect, but he still thinks it works.
