Granisle is one of 73 rural communities in B.C. that will welcome the province’s community paramedicine initiative.
Through this initiative, the B.C. government is expanding its community paramedic program by extending their hours and their duties.
Those duties will include visits to nursing homes and private homes, replacing on-call rural paramedic positions with full-time or half-time jobs in places that may see only one or two emergency calls in a week.
Fort St. James, Fraser Lake and Houston will each get one full-time equivalent and Granisle will get one half-time equivalent.
Health Minister Terry Lake said last week there are already jobs posted for communities in the Northern Health region, after a successful pilot project in six communities.
“While you’re not on call-outs, you can go into a nursing home and talk with patients,” Lake said of the new paramedic roles. “You may be doing CPR training, you may be doing chronic disease management in people’s homes.”
Experience in other provinces has shown that community paramedics can reduce emergency room visits and keep chronic patients in their homes longer, Lake said.
Bronwyn Barter, president of CUPE local 873 representing 3900 ambulance paramedics, said the union and local politicians have been advocating for the approach since 2013. It allows paramedics to make a living in smaller communities.
Rhiannon Davis works as a paramedic in Tofino, one of the six pilot communities. She said the new role allows her to develop relationships with people in the area and understand their needs, preventing rather than waiting for emergencies.
- With files from Tom Fletcher