Imagee Credit: File Photo

By Adam Donnelly

OVER 800,000 CALLS

2021 was the busiest year on record for BC’s ambulance paramedics

Jan 18, 2022 | 9:58 AM

VANCOUVER — Last year was the busiest on record in terms of calls for ambulance service, according to the union that represents the province’s paramedics.

In a media release, President of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC Troy Clifford says CUPE 873 members responded to more than 840,000 dispatched ambulance events in 2021. Due to the nature of many of these calls, Clifford estimates that number to exceed seven figures.

“We know, however, that many events involved multiple ambulances and resources that don’t get separate event numbers, so we are confident that our members responded to over a million calls for service in 2021 serving the citizens of B.C. The numbers are staggering, to say the least,” Clifford says.

The 840,000 dispatched ambulance events are a sharp increase compared to previous years. It also reflects a trend.

In 2018, ambulance paramedics responded to 714,00 calls. In 2019, they had 723,000, and in 2020 they saw over 751,000.

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“In just one year, we have seen almost 90,000 more responses,” Clifford says. “With our worst staffing crisis in history, and BCEHS’ inability to recruit and retain sufficient paramedics, we are heading for serious trouble. These numbers are just not sustainable.”

The province’s paramedics have faced yet another unprecedented year, amid the parallel health crises in the COVID-19 pandemic and yet another year of deaths related to the toxic drug supply. 2021 also brought several historic weather events like the heat dome and severe flooding.

According to Clifford, these events contributed to an unprecedented call volume which is putting paramedics’ ability to respond to calls in peril.

“We need some fundamental changes to how we acknowledge our members’ mental health and wellness, let alone changes to wages and benefits to improve staffing and recruitment. If we don’t see changes soon, we will continue to see our ability to respond to patients suffer and wait times increase.”