Lumby residents have increased access to emergent medical help.
BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) is bolstering its paramedic staffing models, a move that will triple the number of paramedic hours at its station in Lumby.
New paramedic staffing models came into effect April 1. Eight communities in the Interior Health region — including Lumby, Alexis Creek, Clinton, Fruitvale, Logan Lake, Midway, Rossland and Salmo — were upgraded to a 24/7 full-time “alpha” model in ambulance stations. Under the new model, each station has eight full-time positions with paramedics in the station 24 hours a day.
This means there will be paramedics on duty in the station three times more than with the scheduled-on-call model that had paramedics at the station for eight hours a day and 16 hours on call.
“The addition of more ambulance services in our region will help save lives and improve response time. This will bring more peace of mind to people in our communities,” said Harwinder Sandhu, MLA of Vernon-Monashee. “I am thrilled that the Lumby station will have eight full time positions with paramedics in station 24/7.”
A total of 21 Interior Health communities have transitioned away from the scheduled-on-call model to one of three new models, including the aforementioned “alpha” model.
“Since 2017, our government has supported BCEHS’s work to significantly improve paramedic staffing and strengthen and transform ambulance service throughout the province,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “The April 1, 2024 conversion of 60 ambulance stations across the province to more effective service delivery models that respond to each of these 60 communities’ unique needs provides more equitable access to care for people living in rural and remote communities, and better compensation and work environments for paramedics, particularly those who already live and work in these communities and provide emergency medical care to neighbours and community members.”
Another eight communities — Anahim Lake, Lytton, Elkford, Greenwood, Kaslo, New Denver, Riondel and Winlaw — upgraded to a new “mixed shift” staffing model April 1. This model has staff on duty in the station twice as often as they did with the scheduled-on-call model, with 16 hours in station on duty and eight hours on call at night.
Five communities — Seton Portage, Gold Bridge, Blue River, Edgewood and Field — are benefitting from new full-time paramedic unit chiefs to provide support to on-call paramedic staffing. This on-call “kilo” model offers more flexible staffing options to maximize local recruitment, BCEHS said, adding it also leverages the latest collective agreement with paramedics that increased the on-call rate from $2 per hour to $12 per hour.
“In our many discussions with community leaders in these rural and remote communities we heard how critically important paramedic services are to them,” said Leanne Heppell, BCEHS’ chief ambulance officer. “These improved paramedic staffing models and the increase in full-time and regular part-time positions together with the changes we are making to enhance community paramedicine services are an exciting investment in the health and well-being of our patients in rural and remote British Columbia.”
The plan to convert staffing models in 60 rural and remote B.C. communities, including the 21 in the Interior, was outlined in a joint announcement from BCEHS, the Ambulance and Paramedics of B.C. (APBC CUPE Local 873) and the Ministry of Health on Nov. 9, 2023. Further changes in December resulted in additional positions in two communities, Rossland and Sointula.
“The April 1 conversions are an important change in how we provide paramedic services in these 60 communities,” said Ambulance Paramedics of BC president, Jason Jackson. “Patient care is the most important thing to us, and this new approach helps us better recruit and retain paramedics to work in these smaller communities, improve how we respond to 911 calls, and most importantly, help paramedics provide better care to our patients.”
More paramedics will be needed to fill positions under the new models, and BCEHS says the transition to the new models represents one of the single largest recruitment of primary care paramedics in BCEHS history. To help recruiting efforts, BCEHS has created a dedicated talent acquisition team with 32 permanent staff as well as temporary support staff. A proactive recruitment team has also been created with five Indigenous recruiters, focused on bringing more Indigenous paramedics into BCEHS.
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