WATCH: Mayor of Mission Randy Hawes is calling for a review of ambulance wait times after reports of at least two people dying while waiting for an ambulance in Mission.
Ambulance wait times are under scrutiny again.
The mayor of Mission is criticizing the system saying lives are being needlessly lost.
Two weeks ago the mayor told the city council that two patients died waiting for an ambulance, the most recent one being a couple of months ago.
“It puts people’s lives in danger,” says Mission mayor Randy Hawes. “It should not happen. We are very upset about it and we want it fixed.”
BC Ambulance told Global News that’s the first they had heard about two patients dying.
It has gone through its records and found nothing, but has launched a review.
But Mission Fire Chief Larry Watkinson has now provided details of the two incidents, filing the paperwork through the appropriate channels.
“We need to have an ambulance in Mission all of the time,” says Watkinson. “So if we are going to send an ambulance out of the district of Mission, we need to make sure that we are backfilling that ambulance immediately.”
Two years ago, BC Emergency Health Services made changes to re-classify calls so the most urgent cases were dealt with first, even if an ambulance had to be dispatched from another district.
But with only one full time ambulance station, when Mission’s ambulances are called out of district, the mayor says his residents are vulnerable.
There is a Lower Mainland wide review underway for the BC Ambulance Services.
Its report is not due until later this summer.
With files from Ted Chernecki
- ‘A new beginning’: First Nation ravaged by B.C. wildfire unveils new subdivision
- B.C. teen’s killer says new TV show about Reena Virk’s murder ‘disrespectful’
- Man accused of Victoria carjackings arrested a third time in as many days
- ‘If we stay with it, they will come’: Canucks sticking to game plan with series tied 1-1
Comments