scrubbedexpat091

Makes total sense, most if not everyone when they encounter an unconscious person would call 9-11 from instinct who would almost certainly send paramedics along with police.

sharkus

Schnooks, oh I can understand the reason from the deterrence aspect, however, there should be slightly better guidelines around when the fee is applied. For example, if some idiot does call EMS out for a hangnail, they are charged the full fee. When you find your child having a seizure in the middle of the night, and, as to be expected, you're somewhat freaking out, perhaps a charge is unwarranted. I think the term would probably be "if medically necessary".

I do recall some mention of them thinking about introducing a fee in the UK, for exactly the type of situation you mention. I also think stupid calls to 999 / 911 should be subject to a charge as well.

Well, let us hope you don't find yourself in the position of being on the floor unable to respond to someone and people assume you're dead and then pop you in a bodybag, or perhaps just decide to totally cut out the middleman, dig a hole and throw you in it.

As others have said, if you find someone unresponsive, then it's always best to call in the professionals (no, not Bodie and Doyle - they would just drive Cortina through your font room ) and let them do their thing.

HGerchikov

Bodie and Doyle drove Capris. The Sweeney had Cortinas.

rivingtonpike

Bodie drove a capir, Ray Doyle drove an Escort RS type thing (silver I recall)

HGerchikov

I think it might have been white - its a little embarrassing that we know this.

neilg14

Regan had a mk1 Granada, Carter had a Cortina.

HGerchikov

The Sweeney was a little before my time, so I shall bow to your greater knowledge

BristolUK

That Mr 'udson was a man of many talents.

scrubbedexpat091

The charges are simply a result of ambulance services not being an insured service under the Canada Health Act and so the provinces don't want to fund the full cost from taxes so we end up with the fees which vary a lot across the country depending on how much of the cost the province subsidizes.

BC says they subsidize around 90% of the actual cost which is how they got the $80 fee which is very reasonable.

I'd venture if the provinces could, we would be paying co-pays at the doctor and hospitals as well, and I think we eventually will, or monthly premiums will become more common and higher, we already have monthly premiums in BC for most people, only those making under 30,000 get a subsidized rate.

rivingtonpike

Just come back from a long weekend in Vancouver. I personally have no idea how or why it gets onto the "Top cities in the world to live" list. I thought it was dirty, flat, roads were a joke, parking was, indeed, extortionate! I know Richmond is strictly speaking a separate city, but that seemed a dump to me too. Downtown was OK, but nothing out of the ordinary. So you can see some hills in the distance - big deal. There's lots of hills in Canada - famous for them. I know the island is considered a bit dull by some, but we couldn't get on the ferry fast enough! Victoria has pretty much everything we need on a general living front.

We did enjoy the $1 breakfast at IKEA though. That was great. You can keep the rest.

scrubbedexpat091

I am still mystified about Vancouver and how it ranks so well. The congestion, inability to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, is enough, and I can think of several city's in North America off the top of my head that are nicer, but suppose we all see city's differently, but boggles my mind when Vancouver ranks high, I just don't see why.

Took us last week over 45 minutes to go 15km's, that long for that short a distance is insane, so much gas wasted in traffic, and that just adds more pollution, amazed how much gas we use when in Vancouver vs when we were in Seattle, there might be traffic at rush hour there on the highway, but not like Vancouver region where there is traffic pretty much all day everyday.

Tomorrow wife is going to drop me off, and go back to West Vancouver where we can park free, I am at my appointment for 2 to 2 1/2 hours so makes more sense to do that then to pay for parking.

I have to do these appointments every week for 26 weeks, so paying up to 20 dollars a week for that long is too much of a hardship financially.

Shirtback

This is more or less how the system works at my local & regional hospitals. If one is Next of Kin, or a parent of a child admitted.

Ambulance fees? : the (very occasional) times I've had to deal with 'em, I couldn't have cared less. I'd have paid 10+++ times the fee, in the circumstances. The last (touch wood) time I had to call one, the bill was around 130$. IIRC, it was waived anyway given the extremely rural setting of the incident in question.

caretaker

Did you have to assemble it?

BristolUK

Never mind assemble it, could he pronounce or spell it?

dbd33

I don't think that's in Vancouver. Just this week someone in Vancouver, who was sipping a kombucha and explaining how affluent the city is, told me "you'd have to go to the suburbs, maybe to IKEA, before you'd see an off brand stroller".