Firefighters across the mid-Island are spending more time on medical calls each year, prompting louder requests for help financing the efforts by the province. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

medical aid

Record number of medical calls for local firefighters prompting louder calls for provincial help

Jan 24, 2024 | 5:34 AM

NANAIMO — An ever-increasing number of medical calls being handled by local fire departments is taking its toll on staff, as well as financially.

Many departments, including Nanaimo and Parksville, handled record call volumes in 2023 with an increasingly large percentage linked to medical aid, more specifically the handling of overdose or other drug poisoning situations.

Parksville Mayor Doug O’Brien is hopeful to have the issue front and centre at the 2024 Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) conference in April, via the Regional District of Nanaimo.

O’Brien, who sits on the RDN board, is asking the RDN to endorse a resolution for AVICC which would see “establishment of a remuneration system for B.C. fire rescue service departments providing medical care in conjunction with the BC EHS system.”

Staff, training and equipment costs would be factored in under the resolution.

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“This important issue affects many local governments and fire departments far beyond Parksville and it is our hope that the resolution may carry more weight at AVICC coming from the RDN, whose geographic area includes numerous fire departments,” O’Brien wrote.

Similar calls have come in the past year from City of Nanaimo councillors, discussing how much the province should cover calls of this nature.

Board directors were due to receive and consider the letter at their Tuesday, Jan. 23 meeting, however technical issues at the RDN offices postponed the discussion until Jan. 30.

Resolutions made to AVICC are discussed and debated among member municipalities and regional districts before some are forwarded to the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference held in Vancouver this year in September.

The event is considered a major direct advocacy link between local and provincial governments.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue attended to nearly 12,000 calls for service last year, an increase of nearly 23 percent over 2022 call volumes,

Of the calls for service last year, roughly two-thirds were deemed ‘medical aid’, a category which covers everything from shortness of breath to overdose and drug poisoning.

Parksville Fire Rescue saw a similar situation, with 793 calls for service which represented a 22 per cent jump over the year prior.

According to background information provided with O’Brien’s resolution, roughly 25 per cent of those calls were for medical aid, due mainly to a higher proportion of seniors requiring assistance.

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