North Westside Ambulance Service Comment Form

The population of B.C. is growing steadily each year, with the elderly (65+) population increasing even more rapidly. This growth is reflected in large increases in ambulance call volumes and emergency room visits annually in all areas of the province. Even during this time of increased demand we have seen continued downsizing of rural ambulance stations.

So many ambulance questions
Castanet.net - Story# 56193 - Aug 9, 2010

To the editor:

I would like to get the real story behind the B.C. Ambulance Service.

Lets start with:
How many ambulances are available to the Kelowna and Westside area per shift?
How many of those are manned by advanced life support crews?
What areas do the Kelowna and Westside crews cover?
Is it true that ambulance crews must stay with patients after arriving at Kelowna General Hospital(KGH) until a nurse gives them the okay to leave?
Is it true that getting a patient into a emergency bed could take up to six hours and therefore you have the ambulance crews tied up and unavailable to assist anyone else?
I saw nine ambulances in KGH parking lot at one time and they were still there two hours later, how many does that leave on the streets of Kelowna and Westside?
Out of our total allotment of paramedics, how many are full-time?
Is it true that on call paramedics are paid $2.00 to wear a pager and be available to respond to a call if needed?
If they do not get paged out in say a 12 hour shift, what would their wage be for that day?
I would assume that for $2.00 per hour -- they don't sit at the station during that shift so what is their response time once paged?
Would that not put lives at risk waiting for a paramedic to come from home?
Is it unusual for paramedics to work longer than a 12 hour shift -- and if so are they paid overtime?

I've also noticed there is a new ambulance service in town. What are they used for?
What training do their crews have?
Do they have all the equipment like BC ambulance does?
Can they provide advanced life support?

All these questions are important to me since I care for a very elderly parent and they should be important to every member of this community.

Val Schewe

April 27, 2009 Regional District of Central Okanagan Regular Board Meeting Minutes

d) BC Ambulance

The question was raised regarding correspondence which has been circulating to local governments regarding working conditions and contractual issues for the BC Ambulance attendants.

It was noted that they will be addressing West Kelowna Council later this week.

By consensus staff were requested to circulate information to the Board on BC Ambulance operations.

24/7 ambulance service recommended
Kelowna Capital News - Letters - Published: February 07, 2009

To the editor:

The Westside Public Support Organization (WPSO) delivered its first report on improving health care in Westside, WFN, and Peachland to the West Kelowna council on Jan. 27.

WPSO is very grateful for council’s firm support of our recommendation to upgrade the current rural ambulance service.

However, council chose not to support our first recommendation for a 24/7 level 2 health care facility, which was a disappointment, and largely due to Rick Thorpe’s scaremongering.

While we also appreciate the support given us by members of the press we are concerned about inaccuracies in the newspaper stories. In respect to Rick Thorpe’s statements, the WPSO has never, and are not now, suggesting that we need a $400 million to $500 million hospital. That is a ludicrous statement and simply demonstrates that Mr. Thorpe has not even read our report.

Newspaper reports are equally at fault, one reporting that council did not endorse the ambulance request when it did; another reporting us requesting an ambulance on call for 12 hours a day when the report clearly calls for 24/7 services.

The editor of the Capital News simply parrots Mr. Thorpe, without having any idea of the realities of care on the Westside.

It shouldn’t be necessary to say it, but councillors’ concerns about spending in these times are shared by all of us. But please let us all make accurate statements on such an important issue as health care.

Members of the public should all be made aware that our position was supported by the RCMP and every member of the Westbank First Nation council, as well as businesses and retirement associations. The WPSO is fully in agreement with IHA’s approach to phasing in services. It takes a very long time to design and build a health care facility of any size and there are many demands on IHA money and time. It is important to note that we are not seeking the duplication of all of KGH services as some councillors implied.

As our population grows and the percentage of seniors increases, the demands on the systems will only increase. The time to start the process is now, and the proposed joint meetings will at least get us started. Council is assisting the start by convening a round table discussion meeting with all interested parties. It is important that the final design should, at the very least, start to reflect defined needs, and most importantly, take some pressure off the existing Okanagan hospitals.

We want to assure the public that council’s refusal to support the motion made by Coun. Milsom does not mean a conclusion of our efforts on behalf of residents.

WPSO will continue to collect signatures via our website at wpso.ca and in person where practical, and the WPSO stands ready to assist the IHA in moving forward .

Copies of our report as presented to council can be viewed on our website at wpso.ca and anyone can e-mail us at info [at] wpso.ca or send a letter of support by snail mail.

R. F. Green,
Westbank

December 17, 2007 we received word from one resident of Valley of the Sun that they helped to get the ambulance unstuck on Alpine near Wood road after one of the first snow falls of the year. This was most likely the time it took 2 days for the snow plow to arrive after it snowed. We are not positive but we think it was the time that the helicopter came and picked someone up at the entrance to Valley of the Sun. This helicopter evacuation is posted on the North Westside Fire Dept. website on their front page. By the looks of the snow piled up on Firwood road in the pictures that are posted there, it looks like this could have been the time the ambulance got stuck.

We suggest that everyone call and complain or it just may be your family member who needs the ambulance next time, and what if they can't get unstuck? Plus sometimes a few minutes makes all the difference.

Argo road maintenance should not be waiting for 2 days to plow out here or anywhere for that matter. Why plow after the accidents and injury occur? Wouldn't it be least expensive to just go buy the plow to start with? If they are having a shortage of labour then maybe they need to increase wages. Maybe it would entice some of the BC residents that fled to Alberta oil to come home???

Also if you have anything to add to ambulance problems in the area please contact us and let know so we can post it here. Please use our feedback form to tell us your story.

Norm MacLeod at 250-260-3556 (Ceasar's Landing north to the OKIB boundary) *** Don't call Norm tonight December 18, 2007 because he just said his father is in the hospital and he does not wish to discuss anything tonight.

The Helland family have over 1000 signatures in support of a LOCAL Ambulance Service for the North Westside Road area.

45 minutes is too long to wait when your having a heart attack just ask the Helland family !

In regards to my late father-in-law Dag Helland:

On October 10, 2005 Dag Helland was having chest pains and short of breath when he woke his wife Paula Helland. She got up and called 911, explained his symptoms to the dispatcher to please send an ambulance to her home in Killiney Beach, this is at 5:45 am. Then my father in law had gone into the bathroom and got sick.

At this time the ambulance drivers get dispatched from Kamloops. They had to call the dispatcher back to inform him that the mapping system is wrong. Its directing them to South Vernon and the address is located out on the North West side. Now you would think that when they informed dispatch of this mistake, they would call our local First Medical Responders considering that it is cardiac arrest.

No, the dispatcher did not follow Ambulance of British Columbia policies and procedures, the first medical response team in this case, are not paged out. By now Paula is thinking where are they, why are they not here yet. Dag at this time is writing all his medications that he is on for diabetes and his heart. It's approximately 17 min after 6:00 am Paula hears Dag grunt, but thinks he is having a rest. She is putting on her shoes to go direct the emergency vehicle, if only someone would show up she is thinking. At approximately 6:31 the ambulance arrives, they go in to find my father in law Dag slumped over with his eyes open, they then put him on the floor and start to work on him, they say to my mother in law Paula, how come the fire guys are not here? They actually have to page them themselves, to get dad out of the house.

At 6:41am our local fire department get the call to help move someone out to an ambulance, they are on route at 6:47am and on the scene at 6:56 am. That took them 15 minutes, not the 45 minutes it took the ambulance to be on the scene. Dag passed because he had no brain function left due to lack of oxygen therefore we had to make the painful decision to remove him off life support. If the dispatcher only had the ambulance stationed out here or if he had thought to call our local First Response Team.

My father in law would still be here, I believe with all my heart, if our
first response team were dispatched, they are equipped to deal with cardiac arrest. This is a terrible mistake he was only 56 years old and is very missed by his wife Paula , Sons Mathew and Brent, his granddaughters Kristina and Tyra, his brother Ken, sister Kris, friends and family, and of course me Claudette his daughter in law.

Our family doesn't want this to happen to a friend, a mom, a dad, your child or mine. With the population growing out on the Westside. EVERY SECOND COUNTS!!!

Claudette Helland

A sign up sheet is circulating in the community at the request of the Helland family to develop a pilot project that would see an ambulance station developed in our area.

Please be sure that you sign one of these forms. They are available at the Community Hall, Fire Hall, local stores and restaurants.

With an ambulance station in our area the response time would be considerably less than 45 minutes.

Most people have heard of the recent death within our community and of a problem with the response. First, let me express our sincere regrets to Paula, Matt, and the entire Helland family, we feel your loss. Matt has been a firefighter since January 2002. I would like to clarify some of the issues involved in this tragic event.

The North Westside Fire/Rescue and our dispatchers at the Kelowna Fire Department were not and are not consulted prior to a medical call. If the ambulance dispatcher in Kamloops decides that a particular call needs a fire department/first medical response due to time delay or severity of the medical condition it is their call to make.

In this case there was a mapping error in the dispatch computer that compounded the problem, incorrectly indicating the area "Does Not Do First Medical Response". This error has now been corrected. By the time this error was discovered and corrected the call to our fire department had unfortunately fallen through the cracks and the call did not come to us until the ambulance was on scene 45 minutes after the original call was made.

Another issue brought forward by this call was the lack of addressing within the community. I can't express how important this is. We can't help you if we can't find you !!!

The ambulance response time is also a factor. This is in the process of being addressed as well.

The lack of visible addressing within the community is being dealt with. If you want a speedy response from emergency services you must put an address sign at the end of you driveway where it meets the main road. ESS has coupled with the Fire Department to supply and install reflective house number signs that are highly visible from the road. They are available at a cost of $30.00 prepaid, to cover the cost of materials and installation. The feedback has been very positive on these signs. Installation will begin in the spring after the snow is gone and the ground is thawed. Order yours now. Call or stop by the Fire Hall 545-1195.

It was the Helland family that started lobbying for better ambulance service, when Matt's father died out here on the Westside. Matt and Claudette got a petition type form together, which residents in the area signed. The credit needs to go to the Helland family for all the leg work they did and the loss of their family member to find out our ambulance service sucks! Here is a page out of the NWCA News that speaks about the Helland family.

The Helland family started getting signatures to develop an ambulance station for the North Westside Road area

Click page to read larger print.
(Windows XP users will have to click in the bottom right corner of the page after clicking to keep it a large size for reading)

This article below was taken from the North Westside Communities News of December 2005 on page 3 and also speaks about this tragic event which hopefully will be rectified for next time.

From page 40
Obviously, these factors increase the time it takes prehospital caregivers to arrive at the patient’s site, and likewise the time it takes to travel to the definitive care facility. The impact, in the context of trauma care in the late 1980s, was described in the same article:
Trauma deaths were examined using hospital and coroner records. When evaluated by region, we discovered the expected discrepancy, with prehospital deaths much greater the farther the distances to definitive care. Twelve percent of all trauma deaths in the lower mainland were prehospital deaths. In a more sparsely populated area on Vancouver Island 45% of trauma deaths occurred before admission to hospital. In the interior of the province, the percentage rose to 59% and in northern British Columbia 75% of all trauma deaths occurred before reaching a hospital.

If you have comments good or bad, solutions, concerns or complaints regarding the Ambulance Service in the North Westside Road area, please make a comment to the community by filling out the form below and/or comment directly to the Regional District of Central Okanagan.

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North Westside Road BC Ambulance Service

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