Nanaimo Firefighters will likely receive enhanced training to better serve patients during pre-hospital care. (NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

better training

‘It just makes total sense:’ Nanaimo firefighters poised to receive enhanced medical training

Nov 19, 2019 | 2:37 AM

NANAIMO — Firefighters in Nanaimo are in line for increased training to boost their ability to help patients during pre-hospital care.

City councillors endorsed spending roughly $66,000 as part of next year’s budget to allow Nanaimo Fire Rescue (NFR) personnel to receive enhanced emergency medical responder care (EMR), up from the current first responder designation.

The spending request was unanimously approved at the Wednesday, Aug 13 finance and audit committee meeting, while the initiative will be rolled into upcoming 2020 budget discussions.

NFR assistant fire chief Jodi Le Masurier said their members responded to 9,500 medical related calls between 2015 and 2018. She said NFR arrived on scene before paramedics for 77 per cent of those incidents.

“We’re going to the most severe calls, and so the ability to provide better care when we’re there is really the big motivation to move to EMR.”

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Le Masurier said at issue is the inability for NFR to accurately administer oxygen, which is an important component of cardiac calls. She said measuring blood pressure, blood glucose levels and delivering pain management are among other notable tasks they can’t perform without the EMR designation.

Le Masurier, who oversees education and training for NFR, said the absence of the enhanced training means a lack of knowledge and skills, which in turn increases stress and anxiety for their members.

Nanaimo Councillors will be asked to beef up the NFR training budget by $60,000 annually from 2021-2025, which would be funded from general taxation.

The initiative would allow at least 10 firefighters to receive the training annually, according Le Masurier.

She said the City’s on-call firefighters on Protection Island have held EMR level status since 2009.

City councillor Ian Thorpe said public safety should be council’s top priority.

“It just makes total sense to me that the first responders on a scene to possibly save lives should be trained to a higher level to enable them to do their job even better than they do now,” Thorpe said.

NFR chief Karen Fry said the increased training would not result in higher salaries for firefighters, which she said are tied to years of service and rank.

Several fire departments across BC have EMR level personnel, including Campbell River, Vancouver, Prince George and Delta.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes