An Ashcroft, BC, man died Sunday of a heart attack while waiting for an ambulance that took more than 30 minutes to arrive, even though the ambulance station is within walking distance of his home. The man, whose name authorities have not released, died a month after a woman who lived near him also died of a heart attack when the only ambulance on call was also about half an hour away. Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Rhoden says she feels “anger, disappointment and deep sadness” for the elderly man’s family and friends. “It was just a terrible coincidence with these two events happening so close together,” Roden said. “It has a lot of people in the community really on edge, wondering what’s going on [and] what went wrong”.
The man was dead when the ambulance arrived
Roden says security camera footage near his home showed the man collapsed at 8:21 p.m. after suffering a heart attack. Ashcroft Fire Rescue Chief received the call at 8:42 am. and told the caller that the nearest ambulance was in Clinton – about 50km north of Ashcroft – and would take about 35 minutes to arrive. It was the same message the woman who died last month received, her friend says. According to Roden, the fire chief told the caller that the firefighters are all volunteers and are not trained as medical first responders, but said he would attend the scene and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with an automated external defibrillator (AED) from the fire. room, since he had received first aid training. Firefighters arrived to perform CPR on the man, but when the ambulance arrived at the man’s home at 9:11 p.m., he was dead, Roden said. Roden says volunteer firefighters shouldn’t be expected to do the job of paramedics because they don’t have the training. “In many rural communities already, it can be a struggle to find volunteer firefighters, and adding that expectation … will force a lot of volunteer firefighters out,” he said. BCEHS Ambulance Service Chief Leanne Heppell says the man had to wait for an ambulance from Clinton because local paramedics were all out on calls. Heppell says Ashcroft Ambulance Station has no staffing issues as most of the permanent paramedic positions have been filled, but he also says permanent paramedic positions may not be filled if they are on sick leave. “We’re actively recruiting to make sure we have that contingency team when we have illnesses or vacancies that need filling,” he said.
Pay paramedics better, union leader says
Troy Clifford, president of the BC Paramedic Association, says to solve the issues of long waits for ambulance services, BCEHS should activate secondary ambulances and provide better compensation for casual paramedics. “Pay them for the full shift instead [on an] on-call model and implement a temporary full-time position to get through while we post and fill additional positions,” Clifford told guest host Shelley Joyce on CBC’s BC Today. Meanwhile, while the province and BCEHS work to fix the problem, Clifford recommends people get CPR training to help neighbors in need while waiting for 911. BC Today50:41 Ambulance shortage continues to wreak havoc in British Columbia. celebrates Pride in small towns An elderly man in Ashcroft died while waiting for an ambulance at the weekend. We’ll hear from the mayor, as well as BC Ambulance Paramedics & Emergency Dispatchers about ambulance waits in the province and how to tackle the problem now. And in our second half, the City of Williams Lake is declaring its first official Pride Week. We will talk about inclusion in small towns.
