On 11 days this summer and early fall, Quadra Island had no local paramedics available for emergency medical calls, data from the emergency responders’ union shows.
The ferry-dependent community of 2,700 residents has acute staff shortages, as do many rural communities in B.C. On Quadra, three of four permanent part-time paramedic positions are vacant, Cindy Leong, a spokesperson for BC Emergency Health Services, wrote in an email.
There is one ambulance on Quadra and it takes two paramedics to staff it — one to drive, the other to care for a patient. But BC EHS has been relying on the volunteer fire department to drive the ambulance when no staff or only a single paramedic is available.
Volunteer firefighters were called out 18 times to drive the ambulance from May 1 to mid-October — to assist a single paramedic or pick up a Campbell River ambulance crew arriving by water taxi, union statistics showed. The union provided Canada’s National Observer with specific dates, staffing level gaps and the number of times the firefighters drove ambulances.
The numbers reflect rough estimates by the island’s fire department, said Quadra Fire Chief Sharon Clandening, who said Quadra was left without any paramedics seven times in the months of June and July alone.
BC EHS statistics were lower, noting only three instances between May 1 and Sept. 6 when no paramedics were available locally, Leong said. However, Leong did not supply exact dates.
Clandening said any time the island is left with no local paramedics, response times go up, putting people’s safety at risk.
