Emergency calls

The opioid crisis has left B.C. paramedics struggling with mental health issues. ADOBE STOCK IMAGE

Trickle-down effect: never-ending opioid crisis driving B.C. paramedics to exhaustion

Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. seeing sharp spike in mental health-related issues among members

 

(Facebook/E-Comm911)

Mixed-up coffee orders, messy roommates top E-Comm’s 911 nuisance calls

E-Comm handles 99 per cent of B.C.’s 9-1-1 calls and urges the public to call for emergencies only

 

(PQB News file photo)

Thanksgiving long weekend phone delays plague B.C. ambulance service response

E-Comms 9-1-1 says the extended wait period a result of call transferring delays

 

The back of a BC Emergency Health Services ground ambulance. (PQB News file photo)

B.C. woman says husband’s death while family waited on hold won’t ‘be put on a shelf’

Nancy Blakey says talks include ‘very progressive’ meeting with BC Emergency Health Services

The back of a BC Emergency Health Services ground ambulance. (PQB News file photo)
Aira Khan waited for an ambulance that never came. (Submitted photo)

UPDATE: Surrey residents report calling 911 for ambulances that didn’t arrive

One was an eight-year-old girl, another a 64-year-old woman with a blood clot after getting an AstraZeneca vaccine

Aira Khan waited for an ambulance that never came. (Submitted photo)
Emergency Health Services say they received a 911 call June 1 at 3:35 p.m. from a woman who had fallen but was in stable condition at Metrotown SkyTrain station. (Ambulance Paramedics of B.C.)

Ambulance response times in question after B.C. woman waits 1 hour with broken hip

Union president Troy Clifford says B.C.’s poorly managed paramedic staffing system is to blame

Emergency Health Services say they received a 911 call June 1 at 3:35 p.m. from a woman who had fallen but was in stable condition at Metrotown SkyTrain station. (Ambulance Paramedics of B.C.)
Ambulance crews have been busy with a record number of emergency overdose calls this Wednesday, April 21. (BC Emergency Health Services)

B.C. paramedics responded to a record 138 overdose calls in a single day

Wednesday’s calls included 48 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and 51 in Fraser Health

Ambulance crews have been busy with a record number of emergency overdose calls this Wednesday, April 21. (BC Emergency Health Services)
Residents who live around Gardom Lake are concerned that an ambulance was not called on March 19, 2021 by a 911 dispatcher for a woman with severe burns. (Contributed)

Lack of 911 response to severe burns leaves Gardom Lake residents worried

Dispatch unable to find Shuswap address so no ambulance called, no response from promised nurse

Residents who live around Gardom Lake are concerned that an ambulance was not called on March 19, 2021 by a 911 dispatcher for a woman with severe burns. (Contributed)
Alexis Coughlan of Abbotsford is questioning why the paramedics took so long and why the firefighters from down the street were not dispatched when her two-year-old son Milo was having a seizure. (Submitted photo)

With a firehall down the street, B.C. mom questions response time for son’s seizure

Alexis Coughlan wonders why firefighters just down the street weren’t called before paramedics

Alexis Coughlan of Abbotsford is questioning why the paramedics took so long and why the firefighters from down the street were not dispatched when her two-year-old son Milo was having a seizure. (Submitted photo)
(Pixabay)

Crisis lines in Interior reached record number of calls in 2020: report

Responders provided 450,000 minutes of support, helping 30,000 in 2020, a record since 2012

(Pixabay)
Hands-only CRP has been proven to be far more effective than mouth-to-mouth and is far safer during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Leon Baranowski, B.C. Emergency Health Services paramedic practice leader. (BCEHS stock photo)

CPR during COVID-19: How to save someone’s life without risking your own

Paramedics share tips after civilians perform safe CPR on cardiac arrest patient in B.C. park

Hands-only CRP has been proven to be far more effective than mouth-to-mouth and is far safer during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Leon Baranowski, B.C. Emergency Health Services paramedic practice leader. (BCEHS stock photo)
At around 5:30 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 9) morning, Peachland Fire Rescue responded to a report of a vehicle that had possibly driven into Okanagan Lake, and was sinking. (Phil McLachlan - Capital News)

Peachland fire crews find abandoned vehicle sinking in Okanagan Lake

Crews say the driver drove into the lake Saturday morning, and left before crews showed up

At around 5:30 a.m. Saturday (Jan. 9) morning, Peachland Fire Rescue responded to a report of a vehicle that had possibly driven into Okanagan Lake, and was sinking. (Phil McLachlan - Capital News)
Seymour Arm First Responders include (standing) Pat Gibson, Angelica Gajewski, Bruce Salamandyk, Tanner Wiebe, (sitting) Susan Howie, Petra Ewan, (missing from photo) Lesley Milligan and John Castle. (Contributed)

New radios a game changer for North Shuswap first responders group

$10,000 grant awarded to Seymour Arm First Responders

Seymour Arm First Responders include (standing) Pat Gibson, Angelica Gajewski, Bruce Salamandyk, Tanner Wiebe, (sitting) Susan Howie, Petra Ewan, (missing from photo) Lesley Milligan and John Castle. (Contributed)
Paramedic Jason Manuel, dressed in PPE, inspects an ambulance at Station 341 on Nov. 30. (Phil McLachlan - Black Press Media)

Second wave, twice the anxiety; Okanagan paramedics reflect on pandemic from the front line

‘I don’t know who that (next) person is going to be, I don’t want it to be me or my family’: Paramedic

Paramedic Jason Manuel, dressed in PPE, inspects an ambulance at Station 341 on Nov. 30. (Phil McLachlan - Black Press Media)
RCMSAR volunteers use electronics to navigate the rescue boat by night. (Photo Submitted)

Marine search and rescue praises volunteer first responders in North Shuswap

Volunteers helped get man injured in side-by-side rollover to Sicamous.

RCMSAR volunteers use electronics to navigate the rescue boat by night. (Photo Submitted)
A Jeep SUV burned alongside the Trans-Canada Highway west of Salmon Arm on Aug. 11. (MrHazardous/Youtube)

Video: SUV burns alongside the highway near Salmon Arm

Footage of the burning vehicle was posted to Youtube.

A Jeep SUV burned alongside the Trans-Canada Highway west of Salmon Arm on Aug. 11. (MrHazardous/Youtube)
Lake Country born Peachland paramedic, Quinn Gallacher, helped save the life of a 13-year-old girl who was choking, downtown Penticton. (BCEHS)

‘It’s just my job’: Off-duty Peachland paramedic saves choking girl downtown Penticton

Family vacationing in Penticton assisted by off-duty paramedic, who helps save 13-year-old

Lake Country born Peachland paramedic, Quinn Gallacher, helped save the life of a 13-year-old girl who was choking, downtown Penticton. (BCEHS)
Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and Shuswap Search and Rescue crews were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday evening, July 23, 2020. (Jim Elliot-Salmon Arm Observer)

Edmonton man, 22, presumed drowned near popular Shuswap beach

RCMP dive team to continue search of water by Canoe Beach

Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and Shuswap Search and Rescue crews were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday evening, July 23, 2020. (Jim Elliot-Salmon Arm Observer)
Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and Shuswap Search and Rescue crews were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday evening, July 23, 2020. (Jim Elliot-Salmon Arm Observer)

Edmonton man, 22, presumed drowned near popular Shuswap beach

RCMP dive team to continue search of water by Canoe Beach

Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and Shuswap Search and Rescue crews were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday evening, July 23, 2020. (Jim Elliot-Salmon Arm Observer)
Both the RCMSAR and Shuswap Search and Rescue boats were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday, July 23. (Jim Elliot/Salmon Arm Observer)

Emergency crews search water off popular Salmon Arm beach

Two search and rescue boats could be seen combing the shallow water on Thursday, July 23.

Both the RCMSAR and Shuswap Search and Rescue boats were combing the water off Canoe Beach on Thursday, July 23. (Jim Elliot/Salmon Arm Observer)