Planning initiatives, additional training and improvements for Bamfield’s emergency health services are being explored by the BC Ambulance Service.
Blaine Wiggins, superintendent at the BC Ambulance Service, and Amy Poll, BC Ambulance superintendent for the Oceanside district, are actively working towards designing a plan to enhance emergency services for the Bamfield region.
“We’re going through an exploratory process right now…we recognize we have service gaps in our ability for BC ambulance to do expedited response, especially in critical cases,” Wiggins said during a May 24 Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District meeting. “We’ve already been out in the community, we’ve met with many of the partners out there and basically we’re identifying some opportunities and identifying what resources we’re going to need and putting together a very specific plan to address and close some of those gaps.”
According to a press release, in 2014, the Bamfield Health Centre lost its helipad due to the failure of Island Health to meet regulatory requirements. Response times have increased and provincial agencies have not improved service levels over the last nearly three years.
“What we’re doing right now is going through a very active process to review how we can improve the service in Bamfield; so looking at working with our partnerships that already exist and enhancing those partnerships,” Wiggins said. “lets just focus on the patients and do what we can bringing our resources to serve patients.”