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VIDEO: Langley City seeks province-wide support for call to improve coordination between paramedics and firefighters

Calls for ‘concrete’ improvements after ‘unreasonable’ delays in response times during June heat wave
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Langley City Councillor Gayle Martin won support for a motion having the provincial government and BC Emergency Health Services improve coordination between paramedics and firefighters, as a 2019 report called for. (Langley Advance Times/Black Press Media files)

Langley City is calling on all B.C. municipalities to join a call to better coordinate ambulance and fire services.

As drafted by Councillor Gayle Martin, the push for better “pre-hospital care” is a demand for “concrete actions” to address “unreasonable delays” in ambulance response times during the June heat wave that claimed an estimated 719 lives, many of them seniors.

Martin’s motion wants the provincial government and BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) to allocate funding to improve response times and coordination between ambulance and fire crews, who are often sent to medical assistance calls.

It calls for consistent application of medical standards, information sharing, and an integrated dispatch system along with other improvements that were recommended in a 2019 report on access to emergency services which found BCEHS needs to work more closely with fire departments.

READ ALSO: Patient care first: Why B.C. firefighters are calling for more medical training

Martin said the province and BCEHS must treat first responders “as an equal and an integral partner of the pre-hospital care system with adequate support … and resources.”

Martin’s motion was unanimously endorsed by council at the July 26 meeting.

Coun. Rosemary Wallace called it “a very important, essential motion.”

“The amount of lives being jeopardized or lost because of this [lack of resources] is extensive,” Wallace remarked.

Coun. Nathan Pachal called the tragic deaths during the heat wave “entirely preventable.”

“We have a fire service, and an ambulance service, and both of them need to collaborate,” Pachal commented.

Coun. Rudy Storteboom noted the issue is something that council has been thinking about for a “good long time.”

“I think it is important that we stay on top of this,” Storteboom recommended.

Mayor Val van den Boek agreed that “we have to do better, absolutely,” and noted the Union of B.C. Municipalities has been pressing for improvements, as well.

 READ ALSO: READ ALSO: B.C. deaths triple over the past week, to 719, as a result of heat wave

The call comes after the province announced it would fund more full-time paramedics and dispatchers in the wake of complaints about delayed response times during the heat wave.

It is also being forwarded to Premier John Horgan, Heath Minister Minister Adrian Dix, and Susan Wannamaker, executive vice president, clinical service delivery in the Provincial Health Services Authority.


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Dan Ferguson

About the Author: Dan Ferguson

Best recognized for my resemblance to St. Nick, I’m the guy you’ll often see out at community events and happenings around town.
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