Twice this past weekend a firefighter had to drive an ambulance because a paramedic was not available, says Gabriola's fire chief.
Gabriola’s fire chief is calling on the province for full-time staffing of the local ambulance station, saying the situation of firefighters driving ambulances is untenable and a risk to public safety.
“And vice versa — the firefighter could end up on a medical call and we have a big fire or wildfire break out and we’ll need all personnel on deck and we’ll find that our member is now driving the ambulance and going across to Nanaimo potentially and tied up for several hours.” Often, only one paramedic is available to show up on a call, leaving firefighters who are also responding to decide whether to drive the ambulance — in some cases onto the ferry to Nanaimo to the closest hospital — or remain available in case of a fire or a medical emergency.
“As the incident commander in that situation, I have to decide which is the greater risk: having the ambulance completely out of service for multiple hours, or … sending a firefighter off island for one hour.” Fire suppression is the department’s primary focus, but Sprogis said they are happy to support the ambulance service “when we have resources available. We just feel now those resources are getting drained.”
“It’s an unacceptable situation for the citizens of Gabriola because they aren’t guaranteed timely ambulance service transportation at their time of need,” Clifford said.
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