Earlier this month, BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) initiated a staffing model designed to ensure that small rural communities like Cortes Island have four scheduled on-call (SOC) paramedics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe SOC model means shifts can be fully scheduled without waiting for availability of on-call paramedics. SOC shifts are, in general, 8 hours at work, and 16 hours on-call for 3 day rotations,\u201d Sarah Morris, BCEHS media relations, said in an email to CKTZ News. <\/span>\u201cThese additional positions were posted the week of Aug 6, and BCEHS is following the recruitment process as per the collective agreement with the paramedics\u2019 union.\u201d<\/p>\n Local on-call staff will be recruited as required to provide relief coverage for leaves and vacations.<\/p>\n There were problems with the previous on-call rural paramedic service model.<\/p>\n Tory Clifford, president of the paramedics union, told the CBC<\/span><\/a> in June that 30 per cent of the province\u2019s ambulances were not used during the\u00a0 COVID-19 pandemic and opioid crisis because of inadequate staffing. He add that during the heatwave at the end of June, \u201cparamedics were slammed with a record number of calls.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n BCEHS' initial response<\/a><\/span> to the issue was to phase out the four hour minimum wage guarantee for on call paramedics and introduce 170 new SOC positions across the province.<\/p>\n As the Cortes Community Health Association pointed out in a recent public letter<\/span><\/a>, Cortes Island was to have received one of these new SOC positions. The rest of island\u2019s paramedics had to choose between seeking other employment or \u201cserving their community for $24 a shift and hoping they get a call out.\u201d In this case, they would receive full wages.<\/p>\n The Mayor of Zeballos Julie Colborne wrote Health Minister Adrian Dix<\/a> in the spring (May 10) that as a result of this transition, her community might only have full ambulance service for about four days a month. She described the new service model as \u201ca catastrophic collapse of service.\u201d<\/p>\n