Bowen Island raises concern about spotty ambulance coverage

The Metro Vancouver community of Bowen Island says it was blindsided by recent reduction in ambulance coverage.

The municipality says it has learned there were several days in recent months when there were eight-hour gaps in coverage as a result of staffing policies, and that the changes were only relayed to the island’s fire chief verbally.

“We are concerned that there has been no formal communication of these service disruptions to Bowen Island Municipality or the community,” Bowen Island Mayor Gary Ander wrote in a letter to B.C. Chief Ambulance Officer Leanne Heppell.

“As it stands, Bowen Island residents are still under the impression that there is 24-hours a day, seven days a week ambulance service on the island. This lack of communication puts our community at risk, especially those dealing with chronic conditions or potentially emergent situations, such as childbirth or serious motor vehicle accidents.”

Several residents of the community of 3,700 told Global News they were unaware of issues with ambulance coverage, but that they found the idea worrying.

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Bowen Island Fire Chief Aaron Hanen said firefighters remain prepared to answer people’s emergency calls 24 hours a day, but that the apparent lack of paramedic coverage was troubling.

“Definitely we are concerned. We want to see full time 24-hours a day service from BC Ambulance, and there have been some instances in the last month or so where we haven’t been seeing that,” he told Global News.

“The fire department will be there within 10 to 15 minutes, but if the ambulance is not on the island or staff are not available, we’re looking at a car coming from Lions Bay or perhaps Squamish and that could be one and a half to two hours.”

BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), which operates the BC Ambulance Service, said there has been no reduction in resources assigned to Bowen Island.

“In fact, new paramedic positions have been added to Bowen Island in recent months,” the agency said in a statement.

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BCEHS says it added new permanent paramedic positions on Bowen Island last fall as part of a new province-wide staffing model aimed at cutting back on the use of on-call crews.

“Prior to the introduction of the new staffing, the Bowen Island ambulance had 24/7 coverage from on-call paramedics who carried a pager. Now the ambulance is staffed 24/7 by paramedics in permanent roles with regular schedules,” it said.

However, the agency acknowledged that there had been some recent “staffing challenges” in the community due to “a variety of factors” including staff availability and positions that remain unfilled.

It said two staff had recently returned to the station, and that a crew in Lions Bay and air ambulances remain options in the case of a serious emergency.