BC Emergency Health Services is expanding paramedic resources in Oliver, with four full-time workers set to soon be hired in the community.
The South Okanagan town is one of 31 B.C. communities to receive funding from the provincial group, according to a letter from Leanne Heppell, the executive vice president and chief ambulance officer at BCEHS.
“At the ambulance station in your community, the on-call daytime ambulance, referred to as a Kilo unit, will be converting to a fully staffed “Bravo” ambulance, which refers to its 11-hour day shift,” Heppell writes to Oliver’s mayor and council. “This new Bravo unit will operate seven days a week on a permanent basis.”
The announcement means a total of 208 full-time regular positions will be added to emergency response teams across the province. In Oliver, four paramedics will be added to the town’s ambulance service.
“This will create more permanent jobs in these communities and will help stabilize our paramedic staffing, which in turn will improve responsiveness and emergency coverage,” Heppell added.
The update is part of the Ministry of Health’s 2020 announcement of funding for the Rural, Remote and Indigenous Framework. Initially, the goal was to help improve access to health care for people living in rural and remote parts of the province during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recovery project has since been extended, BCEHS says.
“More than half of these communities will see many of their on-call ambulances and associated paramedic positions converted to full-time regular resources,” Heppell writes.
Oliver council received the letter at a meeting on Sept. 26.
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