Mid-morning primetime for Summerland paramedics
If you’re worried about suffering a health emergency in Summerland, be particularly careful during mid-mornings.
The highest call volumes for ambulances in the community is consistently seen around 10 a.m., according to data provided to Summerland council by officials from BC Emergency Health Services.
It’s unclear, though, why mid-mornings are so busy for paramedics.
“You could do a deep dive into the data to try to figure our what some of the antecedent causes are for spiking call volume at that time,” said Michael Sandler, BCEHS clinical operations manager for the South Okanagan.
“But ultimately it’s (more important) knowing the fact that that is going to be your high call-volume response requirement and making sure the resources are available to attend to those calls.”
Sandler and a colleague appeared before council to provide an update on the Summerland ambulance service, which converted to a full-time staffing model in 2021.
“So you now have what we define as an Alpha car, which is simply 24/7 staffing, 365 days a year, staffed by two full-time paramedics at all times,” Sander said.
“You still have a part-time car, which is staffed also by two paramedics on a callout model. The two cars are available to the community, 24/7, 365 days a year, if we maintain our staffing.”
Increased staffing was achieved by wholesale changes to the B.C. ambulance system that began in 2021 and focused mainly on improving pay and working conditions for paramedics.
Some of the changes highlighted by Sandler included bumping up standby pay from $10 to $12 per hour, and a $3.60 per hour premium for night shifts.
The service responded to a total of 1,451 calls in Summerland in 2023 – up about 300 from the three-year average – of which 376 were of a life-threatening nature.
The delegation also poured cold water on speculation that ambulances are tied up unnecessarily while waiting to offload patients at local hospitals.
There are actually “very few” delays, according to Todd Onsorge, BCEHS regional director.
“Kelowna experiences slightly more than Penticton. Penticton is one of the lowest in the province, to be quite honest,” he said.