scrubbedexpat091

Seems Vancouver is having a bit of a paramedic shortage and it's causing issues in high demand times.

Friday night 29 ambulances went unstaffed in Metro Vancouver, wait times for emergency calls were up to 1 hour with non-emergency times pushing 16 hours and at one point the North Shore (North Vancouver, West Vancouver across the bridges) had no ambulances operating at all which is certainly a concern considering how long it can take to get from the Vancouver side to the north shore side, but they eventually mitigated that it appears.

1 hour wait times in emergencies isn't acceptable by any metric.

https://www.citynews1130.com/2021/02...-shortage-b-c/

scilly

Not too surprised to hear this!

The paramedics have been working at full pace and much overtime for moths, if not years.

They're suffering burn-out, having to take leave, subject to covid infection, and always in short supply.

Many times, a patient cannot be accepted immediately at Emergency, and the paramedics have to wait with them until they can be taken in. More pressure.

Not acceptable ............ no, of course it isn't

Understandable , and even inevitable, in these times of covid and drug overdoses.............. yes.

scrubbedexpat091

Healthcare system isn't sustainable in it's current form, waits at hospitals have been generally not acceptable for years. I once sat with paramedics in Abbotsford for 11 hours and some change before being admitted, 11 hours where 2 paramedics could not go on another call.

Danny B

One of my pre-requisites when deciding where to live in BC, was that there was a hospital nearby. I can't imagine living in rural Canada and having to drive (or be driven) to a hospital that is miles away. That would make for a stressful drive.

Thankfully my children were not as accident prone as I was, and we have only visited the emergency ward once in Canada.

No matter how bad you think things are with the Canadian health care system, poor people in Canada have it 1000x better than poor people in other countries.

beckiwoo

In regards to overdose/ fentanyl crisis. I’ve seen this with my own eyes.

First responders get called out whilst me or another colleague have given 6+ vials of naloxone used to revive someone OD’in. More vials might need to be given by paramedics. Then if the patient/individual does come round they refuse to go to the hospital.

I’ve seen the burnt out looks and comments among some paramedics. They also will not (and I don’t blame them) put up with the abuse and nastiness of some individuals that feel they are not pandering enough to their needs.

This was back last year and luckily I took another role on to get away from the ongoing overdose incidents. For me dealing with it on a bi-weekly/monthly basis was draining. I could not even imagine trying to deal with this daily

scrubbedexpat091

Apparently a BC paramedic sharing what is going on within the agency, interesting if true and doesn't put BC Ambulance or the province in a positive light.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...alth_services/

scrubbedexpat091

This past weekend seems to have been particularly bad in Metro Vancouver in regards to ambulances.

30 ambulances unstaffed over Fri-Sat-Sun. Up to 2 hours response time.

BC Emergency Health Services COO says staffing levels are stable overall with no major recruitment issues.

Although it seems the unions and paramedics on the streets don't necessarily agree with her statement.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-paramedic-...nion-1.5330153

scrubbedexpat091

Sounds like being a paramedic in BC is awful, and they are not paid well either compared to other first responders.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-paramedics...says-1.5341296

scrubbedexpat091

Not getting better ambulances sitting empty due to lack of paramedics to staff them.

"We’re seeing anywhere from 20 to 25 per cent on average, every shift, that are un-staffed,” says Troy Clifford, provincial president of CUPE Local 873, the ambulance paramedics and dispatcher’s union."


BC really needs to rethink how paramedic services are done, because its not sustainable right now, paramedics also need better pay, they are not paid what they should be, and no surprise its hard to attract and retain people to the profession.

https://www.cheknews.ca/paramedic-cr...change-795307/

scrubbedexpat091

More insight from a paramedic at BC Ambulance.

I know paramedics do the best they can, but seems the government is not willing to provide the funding necessary.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...ublic_have_to/

scrubbedexpat091

Maybe the paramedic service in BC is breaking down to the point its not functional?

Our neighbor a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago was in medical distress, the fire department showed up and provided some oxygen and did the best they could, but took nearly 3 hours before paramedics arrived.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/o9yf87/failure_in_bcehs_providing_health_care_resulting/

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/o9wstt/people_died_last_night_bcehs_is_failing_us_all/

scrubbedexpat091

The heat wave has caused record volume of calls, so much so there is simply no way for paramedics to respond to them all, the 9-11 operators were facing the same issues with volume.

BC really needs to fix the emergency services system it's failing and people are dying from it.


https://bc.ctvnews.ca/i-ve-never-see...wave-1.5491043


“It was taking up to five minutes just to get through to a human being, one of our members that answers the 911 line,” said Donald Grant, president of Emergency Communications Professionals of BC.

“And then even further to that, to get through to the service they need such as the emergency police line, it was taking up to 40 minutes.”

scrubbedexpat091

The public should probably be concerned, the more paramedics speak out the worse everything seems, did take 2-3 hours for an ambulance to arrive for our neighbor a few weeks back, fire department was here waiting with the lady, she had fallen and was semi-conscious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...yond_repair_a/


Seems to really be a provincewide issue not isolated to Vancouver.

scrubbedexpat091

I feel for these paramedics, they have been calling for change for years and it's fallen on deaf ears.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...s_coo_darlene/

scrubbedexpat091

If it's funding that is the issue, maybe time to add a higher user fee for ambulance calls. $200-$300 maybe.

The current system is not properly funded or staffed and people are dying and it's just not acceptable that any call should take hours to respond.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/anger-o...line-1.5497890