The mayor of Ashcroft, BC, is speaking out after a “perfect storm” of conditions saw a woman die of cardiac arrest, despite living just like a “thrown stone” from her hospital community.
The hospital’s emergency department was closed for the weekend due to a lack of staff and a community ambulance was called when the woman was medically treated.
“I think, sadly, given the closures we are seeing in our small rural emergency departments, it is sad that this is likely to happen again because of the nature of hospitals. small rural areas or emergency departments are the next closest hospital by far,” Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden told Global News.
BC Emergency Medical Services, which operates the BC Ambulance Service, confirmed that paramedics were called to the 700 block of Elm Street at 11:23 a.m. on Sunday. A fleet of ambulances was not able to arrive at the scene until 11:50 a.m
While emergency dispatchers have asked for a firefighters response to fill that void, Roden said this is not a service the local volunteer fire department is equipped to provide.
However, the fire chief himself had medical training and was engaged in CPR as a private citizen, she said.
If the Aschroft hospital ER had opened, she said, someone could have driven the women there in about 30 seconds by car. Once closed, the next closest hospital is the Royal Domestic Hospital in Kamloops, about a 50-minute drive away.
About half a dozen small community and rural hospitals in BC, some in the Health Interiors area, saw their emergency rooms put in diversion over the weekend, amid the crisis. The staffing crisis is getting worse.
At a press conference in Kamloops on Monday, Health Minister Adrian Dix acknowledged staffing shortages were an issue, which he attributed largely to sick workers, but said the province was heavily concentrated into recruitment. He added that the province is looking at ways to speed up emergency room certification for nurses.
Global News has requested comment from the Home Office of Health.
Roden met with Home Health Services as well as BC Emergency Medical Services, which she said was reviewing the case.
“BC Emergency Medical Service acknowledges that they are taking steps, we were informed here in Ashcroft that another model of healthcare is being rolled out, we were informed in May 9 – and you know, one thing that would be helpful is better communication,” she said.
“I think the Department of Home Health is getting tired of hearing me babble on this, but people in the community – and to say they are scared is not an exaggeration – people are very worried. about what is happening with health care in their community. They want to know – they need to know – that it’s available to them when they need it. “
BC EHS acknowledges it is facing staffing challenges, but says it has added more than 500 new part-time and full-time paramedic positions in rural communities. –
– with files from CFJC
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