A freedom of information request from the BC Liberals has unearthed a trove of internal documents from E-Comm 911, revealing senior executives had been trying to raise the alarm about paramedic shortages ahead of this summer s deadly heat dome.
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“Today’s announcement is intended to focus on strengthening the foundation of emergency health services so that we can improve service to patients and communities and the day-to-day work experience of our employees,” said authority interim president David Byres and executive vice-president Susan Wannamaker in a letter to staff Wednesday, the same day as Dix announced the changes to B.C. ambulance service.
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Byres and Wannamaker went on to discount the possibility that the moves were the result of a blame-placing exercise.
VANCOUVER The B.C. government is reconstituting the BC Emergency Health Services board of directors and increasing funding for ambulance service in the province after it faced intense criticism in the wake of the recent heat dome. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced the changes during a news conference Wednesday, saying that improvements to the system are needed. The events of the last few weeks make it clear that there s more work to be done, Dix said. Let there be no doubt our emergency health service system must work better for the people who call upon it and for the people who answer the call.
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“I’m glad you brought that up,” the provincial health officer said Thursday, when a reporter asked why the province did not declare a “heat health emergency” as recommended in reports posted on the government website and elsewhere.
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“The process that we have in place is based on those reports,” she said, specifically citing “a data driven-approach to setting trigger temperatures for heat health emergencies,” written by Sarah Henderson and Tom Kosatsky, doctors at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Thousands Sign Online Petition to Remove BCEHS Head Following Heatwave Deaths
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A paramedic with the province’s ambulance service has started an online petition asking for the head of BC’s Emergency Health Services to be dismissed.
The petition was launched after the number of deaths that may be related to the recent heatwave became apparent.
So far, more than 10-thousand people have signed the online petition on the website Change.org asking for Health Minister Adrian Dix to remove EHS COO Darlene MacKinnon.
The unnamed paramedic created the online petition over frustration that despite warnings extremely hot weather was on the way, senior management at BC Emergency Health Services apparently did nothing to prepare.