With 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a community of roughly 1,500, BC Emergency Health Services has deployed a Major Incident Rapid Response Team to Fort St. James Wednesday, Dec. 9.
The specialized team, based out of Vancouver, will support local paramedics and patients in the community and was developed as part of BC EHS乌鸦传媒檚 COVID-19 pandemic response efforts. This is the first time the team has been deployed, a BC EHS spokesperson said.
The secondary role of the team will be to provide clinical site support at Stuart Lake General Hospital as requested by the Northern Health Authority and local health professionals.
乌鸦传媒淎 highly-trained paramedic team is the ideal response to this small community with 60 plus COVID-19 positive patients and where there is only a small acute care facility,乌鸦传媒� the BC EHS spokesperson said.
乌鸦传媒淲e are also there to support our own paramedic staff who have been on the front lines responsing to extremely high call volumes: 33 calls in six days.乌鸦传媒�
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The team will be made up of two critical care paramedics, one advanced care paramedic and a primary care paramedic, BC EHS said, and will be deployed for two to a maximum of four days, depending on the situation. If needed, a secondary relief team will be deployed to relieve the initial paramedics.
乌鸦传媒淐ritical Care Paramedics are the highest level of paramedic with a focus on air medical response,乌鸦传媒� the BC EHS spokesperson said.
The community of Fort St. James, located roughly 160 kilometres west of Prince George, and the surrounding region has seen a rising number of exposures and positive cases of COVID-19 in recent weeks.
School District 91乌鸦传媒檚 (Nechako Lakes) David Hoy elementary in Fort St. James reported a positive COVID-19 case on Nov. 30, Dec. 1.
At Fort St. James Secondary School, an exposure was reported from Nov. 20-26, and at the independent Nak乌鸦传媒檃lbun Elementary School another COVID-19 exposure was reported from Nov. 22-25.
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Both School District 91 schools remain open. A letter, meanwhile, was sent home to parents on Dec. 7 from Northern Health stating the risk of additional COVID-19 cases was low.
On Dec. 4, Nak乌鸦传媒檃zdli Whut乌鸦传媒檈n Chief Aileen Prince issued a two-week shutdown of the Indigenous community, located adjacent to Fort St. James.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 time to get serious,乌鸦传媒� Prince said in a video posted on Facebook. 乌鸦传媒淧lease. It乌鸦传媒檚 the only way we can get a handle on this 乌鸦传媒� We cannot afford to risk more of our people.乌鸦传媒�
On Dec. 1, Northern Health also issued a notice of a potential exposure to COVID-19 at The Key Resource Centre and The Cold Weather Shelter in Fort St. James between Nov. 12-25.
greg.sabatino@wltribune.com
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