Whereas the residents of rural communities require access to timely and professional emergency health care services to ensure their health and safety; And whereas many rural communities lack after hour access to medical clinics or hospitals in their communities; And whereas BC Emergency Health Services teams are relied upon to provide consistent and timely response to emergency health events, yet many rural BC Emergency Health Services teams are understaffed: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia and BC Emergency Health Services to increase budgets, develop policies and evaluate hiring practices to ensure residents of rural communities have timely and reliable emergency health care services.
Ministry of Health BC Emergency Health Services BCEHS is committed to developing a sustainable employment model, including: - An expanded role for paramedics within the rural health system and with local health teams i.e., community paramedicine; - Combining regular hours of employment with an on-call component to increase emergency coverage for a community; - Regular rotation of paramedics between different communities andor working environments to help develop and maintain clinical skills; and, - Combining work over larger geographical areas to create more predictable and sustainable workload where volumes are usually low e.g., co-ordinating inter-facility transfers across multiple communities. The Community Paramedicine Initiative includes expanded roles for paramedics in rural and small urban communities. The program aims to help stabilize paramedic staffing in these communities and bridge health service delivery gaps to improve patient care. There are now over 100 community paramedics serving 99 rural and remote communities. BCEHS has also introduced six rural advanced care paramedics as a joint research project with the University of Northern BC. To test this enhanced service, the project launched in Valemount, Fort St. John, Prince Rupert, Campbell River, Cranbrook and Saltspring Island.