Air Ambulance Services

BC Ambulance Service BC Ambulance Service BCAS is committed to providing all British Columbians with high-quality and timely pre-hospital emergency medical and patient transfer services. As such, resolution 2013-B44 is being given careful consideration. Through a provincial service model, BCAS is able to provide care consistently throughout the province. BCAS provides air ambulance services on a 24 hour basis throughout British Columbia from bases located in Prince George, Prince Rupert, Kamloops, Kelowna and Vancouver. Air ambulances are a provincial resource and all aircraft are available for patient transfers in Northern British Columbia. BCAS also has strong partnerships with private air carriers, Alberta Health Services, the Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Coast Guard. BCAS is acutely aware of the current challenges providing health care services in rural and remote areas of the province. The air ambulance model that is best able to provide timely, specialized care for patients in northern BC and many other isolated communities is via fixed-wing aircraft which are able to travel across the vast geographic distances in northern BC quickly and efficiently. The specialized care provided on-board the fixed-wing air ambulance fleet by highly trained Critical Care paramedics who experienced in transporting patients significant distances by air. sic In 201213, BCAS completed 6,662 critical care patient transfers by air ambulance. It should be noted that nearly 23 per cent, or 1,532, of those transfers were performed from hospitals and health care facilities in the Northern Health Authority, more than any other health authority in BC. In March 2012, BCAS took steps to improve the care and transportation of critically injured patients from the north to specialty-care hospitals in Prince George or Vancouver through the implementation of the Early Fixed-Wing Activation Program. Previously, patients suffering life-threatening injuries would be transported by ground ambulance to the closest local hospital, where an emergency department physician would determine if a patient needed to be transferred to a higher level of care. The physician would then call for an air ambulance to transport their patient to higher level of care. Now, on-scene paramedics throughout the north can immediately alert BCAS dispatch if the patient meets specific criteria requiring transport to a hospital providing specialized care. Once this call is received, an air ambulance is reserved or diverted to the community to and, if required, evacuate the patient to University Hospital of Northern BC, Vancouver General Hospital or BC Childrens Hospital. sic This service enhancement has greatly improved our service to patients and health care facilities in northern BC. BCAS is also working proactively with partners such as Northern Health, Carrier Sekani Family Services, Rural Coordination Centre of BC and the Rural Remote Division of Family Practice and local municipal leaders to address challenges and ensure consistent access to ambulance services. Most recently, our managers from the Critical Care Program conducted extensive, on-site outreach with communities such as Fort Nelson, Fort St. John, Takla Landing, Revelstoke and Clearwater to better understand local concerns and determine ways to improve services. We are also working to address access concerns in communities such as Dease Lake and Fort Ware, and proactively planning for potential demand for air ambulance services with increasing economic activity in Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert. In order to further improve service to patients in northern BC, BCAS has entered into long-standing reciprocal agreements with Alberta Health Services and the Government of the Yukon to supplement our air ambulance system. With these agreements, combined with the existing air ambulance and charter fleet, northern BC is served by more than ten fixed and rotary-wing aircraft capable of providing patient transfer services. I want to assure UBCM and members that BCAS is committed to providing timely, safe, quality and efficient air ambulance services to patients throughout British Columbia. We work in close partnership with local governments, health authorities and stakeholder groups to continuously evaluate and improve our services. We welcome feedback from organizations such as the UBCM in our ongoing mission to provide life-saving emergency medical services.