An Ashcroft resident living within sight of the town乌鸦传媒檚 ambulance station has died, after an ambulance took nearly half-an-hour to reach him.

It is the second time in less than a month that an Ashcroft resident in severe medical distress has had to wait nearly 30 minutes for an ambulance, despite the community having a 24/7 Alpha ambulance station. Both residents lived within half-a-block of the station.

Ashcroft Fire Rescue received a call from Kamloops Fire Dispatch at 8:42 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 14, advising that a man had suffered an apparent heart attack and that the nearest ambulance was in Clinton and would take 35 minutes to arrive.

Fire Chief Josh White took the call, and advised that the fire department is a volunteer one, and members are not trained as medical first responders. However, as he has a Level 1 First Aid ticket he said that he would attend.

After grabbing the automated external defibrillator (AED) and gloves from the fire hall, he arrived on site at 8:58 a.m., closely followed by three other firefighters who arrived in personal vehicles.

乌鸦传媒淭he AED indicated no pulse, and never called for a shock,乌鸦传媒� says White. 乌鸦传媒淗owever, it was evident he had only recently gone down when we arrived, and I couldn乌鸦传媒檛 say if he was dead or alive at that point.乌鸦传媒�

A neighbour produced security cam footage which showed the man walking his dog in an alleyway off Elm Street, directly across from the ambulance station. The footage shows the man collapsing at 8:21 a.m.

White says that firefighters and a neighbour performed CPR until the ambulance arrived at 9:11 a.m. 乌鸦传媒淎mbulance paramedics got their equipment going and did all they could do, but after a little while they called it.乌鸦传媒�

White attended the scene on July 17, when an Ashcroft resident who had gone into cardiac arrest had to wait for an ambulance to arrive. That incident happened less than 200 metres from where the Aug. 14 incident took place.

乌鸦传媒淲e were half-a-block from the ambulance station,乌鸦传媒� says White. 乌鸦传媒淲e could see it from where we were.

乌鸦传媒漇omething乌鸦传媒檚 not right. That乌鸦传媒檚 another person we乌鸦传媒檝e lost in our community.乌鸦传媒�

White says he gets angry when Ashcroft Fire Rescue gets these calls.

乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 not what we typically do, but as Good Samaritans we have that conscience where we have to go.

乌鸦传媒淚t tears me in half. I can乌鸦传媒檛 keep making this decision time and time and time again. I乌鸦传媒檓 always going to go 乌鸦传媒� I have that first aid ticket 乌鸦传媒� but I don乌鸦传媒檛 want to be that person, because it puts me in a really bad place. I got that ticket to look after co-workers, not the whole community.

乌鸦传媒淚f I know something is happening in town I乌鸦传媒檓 obligated to go, and it乌鸦传媒檚 tough mentally, because I乌鸦传媒檓 going to people I know or people I see in the community.乌鸦传媒�

Following other recent instances in B.C. where people in medical distress have faced long ambulance waits 乌鸦传媒� including an incident in Surrey on Aug. 4 where a man died of self-inflicted knife wounds while waiting half-an-hour for an ambulance 乌鸦传媒� there have been calls for more firefighters, both volunteer and career, to be trained as medical first responders. White says this is not the answer.

乌鸦传媒淭his isn乌鸦传媒檛 in our scope of operations. We can乌鸦传媒檛 budget for the training and equipment needed to fill this gap that BC Ambulance seems to be leaving us with. I don乌鸦传媒檛 fault or blame our local ambulance paramedics, but if we ran our fire halls like this people would be really upset.乌鸦传媒�

He adds that it is not just a question of the necessary money and the training, especially for volunteer firefighters.

乌鸦传媒淎 lot of people who come into our fire hall didn乌鸦传媒檛 sign up to be paramedics or even medical first responders. If they wanted that they乌鸦传媒檇 be paramedics. They wanted to be firefighters and deal with structure fires.

乌鸦传媒淪ome knew they wanted to do highway rescue, but it乌鸦传媒檚 not mandatory, because it乌鸦传媒檚 not for everyone. Those are high impact instances where you乌鸦传媒檙e seeing pretty traumatic stuff, and it takes a toll over time.乌鸦传媒�

He adds that with 98 per cent of the highway rescue calls Ashcroft Fire Rescue responds to, they don乌鸦传媒檛 know the victims.

乌鸦传媒淚f we乌鸦传媒檙e being medical first responders in our own community, not everyone will want to do that, as it will take a mental toll. These are people we truly know. We乌鸦传媒檒l always be there to help these people out, but from the medical end of it I could be called to my mom乌鸦传媒檚 house or a co-worker乌鸦传媒檚 house, and this isn乌鸦传媒檛 something I could deal with day in and day out.

乌鸦传媒淢entally, it will fatigue us to a whole new level. When it乌鸦传媒檚 people we know it hurts even more. It乌鸦传媒檚 a huge mental weight.乌鸦传媒�

White also believes that having fire departments go the medical first responder route is an 乌鸦传媒渆asy way out乌鸦传媒� for BC Emergency Health Services.

乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 a cheap fix for them. 乌鸦传媒極h, firefighters can bandage up that arm and we don乌鸦传媒檛 have to send a truck.乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮�媒�

White adds that in his more than 20 years on Ashcroft Fire Rescue he has never seen a situation like this.

乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 know what to do at this point. We didn乌鸦传媒檛 join up to do this. We乌鸦传媒檒l always back up our brothers and sisters in the ambulance service, but for most of us it falls outside our scope. The call volume will go up and up, and we乌鸦传媒檒l be asking more and more of our volunteers.乌鸦传媒�

White says that as fire chief he wants to be there to help the community, but putting additional pressure on fire departments is not the answer or the solution.

乌鸦传媒淲e have ambulances here in B.C. for a reason. If we乌鸦传媒檙e going to look to volunteer and career fire departments to do this, why do we have ambulances?

乌鸦传媒淢edical first response is not in our purview. We乌鸦传媒檒l keep going to assist on these calls until BC Ambulance gets its shit straight, but it will take its toll on us.乌鸦传媒�

editorial@accjournal.ca
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