“What kind of help is available? That's what I hear most people are concerned about.” “People talk about what happens in the middle of the night,” Woolsey said. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) and BC Ferries to rectify the island's barriers to emergency care. The lack of local paramedics and ferries to get people off-island to hospital in a timely manner is a persistent worry, said Woolsey, especially in a community where nearly 40 per cent of the population is 65 or older.Īn online petition started last summer has garnered more than 2,200 signatures and calls on Transportation Minister Rob Fleming, B.C. Quadra, like many small, ferry-dependent communities in coastal B.C., is facing a double whammy of acute paramedic shortages made worse because BC Ferries no longer guarantees off-hour sailings for medical evacuations at night. “I was in the middle of real pain, and that was stressful.” How long am I going to have to wait?”' Woolsey said. “When I heard that, I thought, 'Oh, my God. It took at least an hour before paramedics came to provide medical care, and the trip to the hospital in Campbell River - just three kilometres across the water on Vancouver Island - took about another half-hour, Woolsey said. Woolsey had to wait for a crew to come by water taxi from Campbell River. However, relief turned to alarm when she learned the two were local volunteer firefighters responding because there were no paramedics available on the island. She was relieved to see two people come through the door around 20 minutes later. on April 2.ĭisoriented by pain and vomiting constantly into her kitchen sink, it seemed to Woolsey it was taking forever for paramedics to arrive. Quadra Island resident Carol Woolsey had the misfortune to experience a medical emergency in her rural community last month after the last ferry had sailed for the night.Īfter developing searing pain in her lower abdomen, the 77-year-old and her cousin called 911 around 10 p.m.
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