Editor:
Re: Delta mayor upset firefighters not being alerted to all emergency calls, Aug. 24
As emergency medicine specialists leading the clinical and medical programs for BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), we are writing to assure the citizens of Delta that BCEHS is committed to working in partnership with Delta firefighters to provide excellent patient care for emergency medical calls.
BCEHS is the organization that runs the BC Ambulance Service, and oversees paramedic care in the province. Our paramedics respond to approximately 1,400 9-1-1 calls a day province-wide, and they are the ideal response to a medical emergency. Among all responders, BC paramedics have the highest level of training, equipment, and real-time connection to emergency medicine doctors and other specialists while caring for and transporting patients in the province.
BCEHS greatly appreciates its partnership with firefighters, and other agencies that are part of the BCEHS first responder program. The program is meant to ensure that if they arrive before paramedics, they can save lives by early intervention measures such as giving CPR in cardiac arrests and administering naloxone for an overdose patient before paramedics take over and transport to hospital.
Recently BCEHS made a system change to make sure paramedics – and firefighters as medical first responders – are more immediately available for these most life-threatening 911 calls. The new system, called the clinical response model has been selected because it is a leading system worldwide, based on medical evidence and best practice, and has been proven to improve patient care. Paramedics and firefighters are now getting to the most life-threatening and urgent 911 medical calls faster. That means together they are saving more lives.
In Delta the results speak for themselves: The latest data shows the median average response time for the most urgent category of calls has dropped more than two minutes (from 10 minutes, 56 seconds to eight minutes, 34 seconds). For the next most urgent category the response time has dropped by 25 seconds (from 11 minutes 35 seconds to 11 minutes 10 seconds). BCEHS closely monitors response times generated through an automated system.
For those 911 calls that are non-urgent, BCEHS is working to facilitate new pathways; this includes connecting callers with nurses, paramedic specialists, pharmacists or doctors, to get the help they need so they can avoid unnecessary trips to the hospital. This reduces demand on first responders and hospitals, and better meets patients’ needs.
Along with these changes, BCEHS has recently added more paramedics, more ambulances and more dispatch staff to ensure the best, most efficient care possible is delivered. This is translating into better patient care in BC, and we look forward to continuing to offer excellent patient care to the citizens of Delta in partnership with the Delta fire department.
Dr. John M Tallon, Emergency Physician and Vice President, Clinical and Medical Programs, BCEHS
Dr. Sandra Jenneson, Emergency Physician and Medical Director, Patient Care Communications and Planning, BCEHS
