Midway and Greenwood see emergency service upgrades

Long wait times for an ambulance — a problem that many rural B.C. communities know all too well — is now the target of a new provincial initiative. Each of the 60 communities included in the plan will switch to one of three new models that will improve 911 response times, including Midway and Greenwood. In addition, 271 full-time paramedic positions being added to address staffing shortages, which ultimately leads to long wait times.

Eight communities including Alexis Creek, Clinton, Fruitvale, Logan Lake, Lumby, Midway, Rossland and Salmo were upgraded to the 24/7 full-time “alpha” model in ambulance stations on April 1, 2024. Under this model, each station has 8 full-time positions, with paramedics in the station 24 hours a day.

Eight communities, including Anahim Lake, Lytton, Elkford, Greenwood, Kaslo, New Denver, Riondel and Winlaw upgraded to a new “mix shift” staffing model on April 1, 2024. The mix shift model has staff on duty in the station twice as often as they did with the SOC model, with 16 hours in station on duty and 8 hours on call (pager) at night.

“From all the communities that I’ve worked with, this service is really important to them,” said Boundary-Similkameen MLA Roly Russell. “So improvements like this help provide better service to those communities in getting what they expect and deserve.”