Whereas the BC Ambulance Service provides emergency response in rural areas to those who experience serious trauma accidents or life threatening medical emergencies; And whereas most rural ambulance stations are staffed with paramedics trained to the emergency medical responder or primary care paramedic levels; And whereas most of the better trained advanced care paramedics and critical care paramedics are stationed in larger urban centers whose residents benefit from tertiary care facilities within relative proximity compared to rural residents health facilities: Therefore be it resolved that the provincial government require the BC Ambulance Service to staff rural ambulance stations with much needed advanced care or critical care paramedics whose skills and training are necessary for life support where tertiary care is often hours away rather than minutes away as it is in urban centers.
Ministry of Health BC Emergency Health Services BCEHS recognizes that staffing can be a challenge in rural communities and acknowledges that the use of paramedics with a higher level of clinical skill could be beneficial in some non-urban settings. Currently, BCEHS is working with Northern Health Authority to explore options for using advanced care paramedics in remote practice settings. Improving emergency response times for high acuity patients, and improving service delivery in rural and remote communities are both priorities for BCEHS and key objectives of theirs. The Ministry of Health has committed to fund up to 80 new regular full-time equivalent Community Paramedicine positions to be established between April1,2015 and March 31, 2019, and BCEHS continues to work towards enhancing emergency response in rural and remote communities by improving paramedic recruitment and retention. In addition to recruitment efforts, BCEHS has recently introduced an interim four hour wage guarantee for on-call shifts at stations with low call volumes. They are also in the process of reviewing changes to the deployment model which would see the introduction of regular part-time positions in some rural communities, and help attract employees to these communities on a longer-term basis. Through the Community Paramedicine Initiative, BCEHS is improving access to health care in select rural and remote communities by expanding the role of qualified paramedics to include providing primary care services in non-emergency settings such as in the community and patients homes. This initiative will help stabilize staffing and introduce community paramedics with the training to deliver additional types of care.