After more than three years of lobbying by local officials, Squamish will now have around-the-clock ambulance service, Mayor Ian Sutherland announced Tuesday (Feb. 15).
Sutherland reported to District of Squamish council he met with representatives from the B.C. Ambulance service and they announced Squamish will now have ambulance service around the clock every day.
"It means that ambulance calls after 7 p.m. will be responded to within 90 seconds," Sutherland said.
"This has been a long time in coming for the community."
Karen Johnson, a spokesperson for the B.C. Ambulance Service said the change came about as part of a new collective agreement with the unionized paramedics across the province.
"It does improve response time for patients," Johnson said. "In communities like yours paramedics were paid to carry a pager."
The pagers won't be used as much in the future as paramedics will be stationed around the clock in the Squamish Business Park ambulance centre.
"They are now at the station able to respond from the station," Johnson said.
Sutherland gave credit to the work of the current council in getting the improved ambulance service and he also gave credit to the former council. He singled out then-mayor Corinne Lonsdale and former councillor Wendy Magee.
Lonsdale and Magee lobbied hard for around-the-clock ambulance coverage after a fatal incident impacted the pair.
Lonsdale's daughter-in-law died three years ago outside the hotel Magee manages, mere blocks away from the ambulance station. On the evening of the choking incident the paramedics had to drive by the hotel in their personal vehicles to get to the ambulance station and then respond with an ambulance. Magee said the response time was about nearly nine minutes and she feels a faster response would have saved Lonsdale's daughter-in-law.
"She would be alive today," Magee said. "She died of asphyxiation and if she had her airway cleared she would have survived."Magee started looking into the ambulance service in Squamish after the tragic incident and she said she found many cases where a faster response time might have saved a life.
"I am just absolutely ecstatic," Magee said of the announcement of expanded service for Squamish. "I think it is a very positive step forward for Squamish."
Specific details of the announcement were not available this week. Johnson said a full provincial announcement is being planned and specific details of how the new system will work in Squamish will be revealed when the province announces the changes in the province-wide ambulance service.
