An Ashcroft resident living within sight of the town鈥檚 ambulance station has died, after an ambulance took nearly half-an-hour to reach him.

It is the second time in less than a month that an Ashcroft resident in severe medical distress has had to wait nearly 30 minutes for an ambulance, despite the community having a 24/7 Alpha ambulance station. Both residents lived within half-a-block of the station.

Ashcroft Fire Rescue received a call from Kamloops Fire Dispatch at 8:42 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 14, advising that a man had suffered an apparent heart attack and that the nearest ambulance was in Clinton and would take 35 minutes to arrive.

Fire Chief Josh White took the call, and advised that the fire department is a volunteer one, and members are not trained as medical first responders. However, as he has a Level 1 First Aid ticket he said that he would attend.

After grabbing the automated external defibrillator (AED) and gloves from the fire hall, he arrived on site at 8:58 a.m., closely followed by three other firefighters who arrived in personal vehicles.

鈥淭he AED indicated no pulse, and never called for a shock,鈥� says White. 鈥淗owever, it was evident he had only recently gone down when we arrived, and I couldn鈥檛 say if he was dead or alive at that point.鈥�

A neighbour produced security cam footage which showed the man walking his dog in an alleyway off Elm Street, directly across from the ambulance station. The footage shows the man collapsing at 8:21 a.m.

White says that firefighters and a neighbour performed CPR until the ambulance arrived at 9:11 a.m. 鈥淎mbulance paramedics got their equipment going and did all they could do, but after a little while they called it.鈥�

White attended the scene on July 17, when an Ashcroft resident who had gone into cardiac arrest had to wait for an ambulance to arrive. That incident happened less than 200 metres from where the Aug. 14 incident took place.

鈥淲e were half-a-block from the ambulance station,鈥� says White. 鈥淲e could see it from where we were.

鈥漇omething鈥檚 not right. That鈥檚 another person we鈥檝e lost in our community.鈥�

White says he gets angry when Ashcroft Fire Rescue gets these calls.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not what we typically do, but as Good Samaritans we have that conscience where we have to go.

鈥淚t tears me in half. I can鈥檛 keep making this decision time and time and time again. I鈥檓 always going to go 鈥� I have that first aid ticket 鈥� but I don鈥檛 want to be that person, because it puts me in a really bad place. I got that ticket to look after co-workers, not the whole community.

鈥淚f I know something is happening in town I鈥檓 obligated to go, and it鈥檚 tough mentally, because I鈥檓 going to people I know or people I see in the community.鈥�

Following other recent instances in B.C. where people in medical distress have faced long ambulance waits 鈥� including an incident in Surrey on Aug. 4 where a man died of self-inflicted knife wounds while waiting half-an-hour for an ambulance 鈥� there have been calls for more firefighters, both volunteer and career, to be trained as medical first responders. White says this is not the answer.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 in our scope of operations. We can鈥檛 budget for the training and equipment needed to fill this gap that BC Ambulance seems to be leaving us with. I don鈥檛 fault or blame our local ambulance paramedics, but if we ran our fire halls like this people would be really upset.鈥�

He adds that it is not just a question of the necessary money and the training, especially for volunteer firefighters.

鈥淎 lot of people who come into our fire hall didn鈥檛 sign up to be paramedics or even medical first responders. If they wanted that they鈥檇 be paramedics. They wanted to be firefighters and deal with structure fires.

鈥淪ome knew they wanted to do highway rescue, but it鈥檚 not mandatory, because it鈥檚 not for everyone. Those are high impact instances where you鈥檙e seeing pretty traumatic stuff, and it takes a toll over time.鈥�

He adds that with 98 per cent of the highway rescue calls Ashcroft Fire Rescue responds to, they don鈥檛 know the victims.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e being medical first responders in our own community, not everyone will want to do that, as it will take a mental toll. These are people we truly know. We鈥檒l always be there to help these people out, but from the medical end of it I could be called to my mom鈥檚 house or a co-worker鈥檚 house, and this isn鈥檛 something I could deal with day in and day out.

鈥淢entally, it will fatigue us to a whole new level. When it鈥檚 people we know it hurts even more. It鈥檚 a huge mental weight.鈥�

White also believes that having fire departments go the medical first responder route is an 鈥渆asy way out鈥� for BC Emergency Health Services.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a cheap fix for them. 鈥極h, firefighters can bandage up that arm and we don鈥檛 have to send a truck.鈥欌��

White adds that in his more than 20 years on Ashcroft Fire Rescue he has never seen a situation like this.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what to do at this point. We didn鈥檛 join up to do this. We鈥檒l always back up our brothers and sisters in the ambulance service, but for most of us it falls outside our scope. The call volume will go up and up, and we鈥檒l be asking more and more of our volunteers.鈥�

White says that as fire chief he wants to be there to help the community, but putting additional pressure on fire departments is not the answer or the solution.

鈥淲e have ambulances here in B.C. for a reason. If we鈥檙e going to look to volunteer and career fire departments to do this, why do we have ambulances?

鈥淢edical first response is not in our purview. We鈥檒l keep going to assist on these calls until BC Ambulance gets its shit straight, but it will take its toll on us.鈥�

editorial@accjournal.ca
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