“Somebody is going to get hurt, and somebody is going to die.”
–Sharon Hartwell
Twice over the past weekend, people in the tiny northwestern B.C. community of Stewart needed medical help. They called 911. Then waited. And waited.
Nobody came.
Stunned, loved ones bundled their family members in medical distress into their personal vehicles and drove them themselves to the local health centre.
Luckily, no one died.
They were “near-misses” that are occurring more often in Stewart because of the collapse of the local ambulance service, says Mayor Angela Brand Danuser. Both local paramedics have been unavailable to work. The nearest ambulance is three to five hours away.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Brand Danuser.
The small district, which sits on the border of Alaska, 500 kilometres northwest of Prince George, is furious, said the mayor. It’s not only that they’ve been left without ambulance coverage, and it’s that nobody from BC Emergency Health Services, Northern Health or the provincial government bothers to alert them when it happens, or provide any alternative help.
“Most of the time the community is not aware,” said Brand Danuser. “BC EHS doesn’t tell anybody we don’t have coverage. So people are phoning 911 looking for an ambulance and being told it’s going to come from as far away as Houston, which is 5 hours away.”
The community lost ambulance service in late June, and believes it could be gone until July 15.
Brand Danuser wrote a letter to BC EHS and Health Minister Josie Osborne last week, demanding information. Nobody responded.
The mayor tried phoning senior leadership at BC EHS and was told her letter had been sent to the media department and to await a response.
Only way to get government’s attention is to go public
“Somebody is going to get hurt, and somebody is going to die,” said local MLA Sharon Hartwell, who represents Bulkley Valley-Stikine.
“It’s our frigging government’s responsibility to train our paramedics and get them to communities. We are paying our fair share of taxes.”
Hartwell accused the provincial government of ignoring Stewart, along with other northern and rural communities. The nearby community of Kitwanga, north of Terrace, has been trying for 10 years to get a new ambulance station after paramedics refused to work out of the existing 1940s-era building because it contains mold.
Hartwell said the only way to get the BC NDP’s attention is to go public, because otherwise local officials are treated with silence.
“The only thing this government responds to is shaming,” said Hartwell.
Millions flow through region without ambulance service
Stewart is often considered the gateway to the “golden triangle” mining region of B.C., which Premier David Eby has expressed sudden interest in promoting over the last few months. His government has announced resource development frameworks, put together lists of projects to fast-track, and recently approved the substantial start designation of the $8 billion KSM copper-gold mine northwest of Stewart.
Billions of dollars of industrial activity flows in and around the community. And yet, it can’t even get basic emergency services from the province.
“The amount of industry working in and around our community, they are all at risk,” said Brand Danuser. “We are in the golden triangle, the richest part of the province, and we can’t even receive ambulance coverage.”
BC Emergency Health Services said it is trying to hire another full-time community paramedic in Stewart, in addition to the existing full-time unit chief and on-call emergency medical responder. But it has so far been unsuccessful.
“We take the concerns raised by the mayor of Stewart very seriously and are committed to doing everything we can to provide consistent coverage in this area,” EHS said in a statement.
Two local paramedics overburdened with no time off
The community is appreciative of the current two paramedic staff, who carry the enormous burden of basically always being on call and unable to do simple things like have a drink with dinner, said Brand Danuser. But one person is on medical leave, and the other is on holiday. The province should backfill the spots, rather than let the entire emergency service collapse, she said.
The mayor convened a meeting of other emergency service providers Wednesday, including the volunteer fire department and local RCMP. Neither are trained to provide the level of first aid as paramedics. Both face immense legal risk and liability issues transporting sick patients. “I don’t think it’s even an option for them,” said the mayor.
The issue is especially concerning because Stewart is in the middle of celebrating its International Days celebration with the neighbouring town of Hyder, Alaska. Hundreds are gathering, believing incorrectly that if anything went wrong they could call 911 to get help.
“We have tourists coming from everywhere to be in our community and they are all at risk,” said Brand Danuser. The same goes for anyone driving through the region on Highway 37A, who assumes an ambulance would respond if they were in a crash.
‘It’s not a safe way to run the communities’
The union representing B.C. paramedics said the situation in Stewart is not unique. Between six to 12 small, rural communities in the province also do not have functioning ambulance service.
“I wish it was an isolated incident,” said Ian Tait, spokesperson for the Ambulance Paramedics of British Columbia. “Unfortunately, there are some other communities in rural areas of B.C. that suffer similar staffing issues.
“I wish it was an isolated incident.”
Ian Tait
“It’s not a safe way to run the communities, but unfortunately there are certain areas of British Columbia where they can’t find staff.”
It’s not fair to expect two people to staff Stewart’s entire ambulance needs on their own, facing pressure and guilt every time they need time off to avoid burning out, said Tait. They are tied to their pagers, unable to live ordinary lives, he said.
Hundreds of paramedic vacancies in BC
The B.C. government has invested money in expanding the ambulance service in recent years, but that has not solved all the problems.
“We have hundreds of open full-time positions in the province that didn’t even exist a few years ago,” said Tait. “The problem is there isn’t hundreds and hundreds of new paramedics to come out of the soil to fill these spots.”
“You can’t just leave a community with an ambulance sitting empty for days on end.”
Ian Tait
BC EHS said it is working on trying to find paramedics from other parts of the province to fly into the community to cover future shifts, as part of the “Travelling Paramedic Program.”
The union said that mainly involves urban paramedics being brought in on their days off to work extra shifts.
“It’s not cheap, but when you have a choice between zero staff and bringing in people on overtime, you have to staff them,” said Tait. “You can’t just leave a community with an ambulance sitting empty for days on end. It’s not ethical, and safe. The people deserve to have some form of functioning ambulance service.”