Ambulance Services

Whereas the ongoing shortages of manpower in Ambulance Halls throughout rural British Columbia are prevalent in most communities outside of larger Urban Centres; And whereas because of the declining volunteer nature of the BC Emergency Health Service BCEHSs ambulance service it is critical that the BCEHS be properly addressed by the Province to ensure life safety while respecting budgets: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the provincial government to initiate a full and in-depth review of BC Emergency Health Service BCEHSs ambulance service in BC, with the intent of modernizing those services to consider additional duties to warrant more full time value and work for ambulance personnel; And be it further resolved that such a review be made a high priority of the government of British Columbia.; And be it further resolved that the BCEHS be asked to revise the Clinical Response Model to ensure that other first responder agencies, such as fire rescue services, that provide pre-hospital care, are utilized for all Orange and Yellow calls because: - these call types often involve a patient whose condition is deteriorating; - these call types can be under-reported or improperly coded; - patient comfort is important and should not be excluded from consideration when a dispatcher is deciding whether to forward a call to another agency; and - all patients deserve the best possible care.