BC Islanders worry about lack of emergency ferry service putting lives at risk Globalnews.ca

resident of british columbia Quadra Island They are raising safety concerns over what they say is a lack of round-the-clock medical care.

Home to approximately 2,700 years of residents, the island does not have a hospital, and relied on emergency ferry service between 10:30 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. to transport paramedics and patients in distress.

But locals say the 24-hour emergency ferry service has recently been shut down due to staffing problems, leaving a significant overnight cap in coverage.

“In the old days, you used to call 911, they would connect you to an ambulance, and if the ambulance people thought it was appropriate they would call the ferry service, and the engineer would modify the ferry and take you to the Campbell River. For emergencies,” Heidi Ridgeway, a realtor and 29-year-old resident of the island, told Global News.

“(Now,) we have patients sitting in the ferry parking lot in an ambulance, waiting for the first ferry to arrive in an emergency situation… and it’s 10 minutes away.”

Ridgeway has created a petition for the withdrawal of emergency service, which has so far collected 1,030 signatures.

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BC Ferry told Global News that it provides after-hours emergency service to island communities as voluntary services, and is not under contract to do so.

“These services fall under the BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), which have multiple transportation options to support emergency evacuations from island communities,” it said.

“BC Ferries makes every effort to provide after-hours service and crew is ready to act when needed, although there may be challenges in providing this service, including crew availability.”

The company said that in the case of Quadra Island, most of the crew is based in the Campbell River and will need to be taken back to the island to prepare the ferry.

In a statement, BC Emergency Health Services said dispatchers have several options, including calling in an air ambulance in case of an overnight emergency.

The service also contracts with a water taxi located in the Campbell River, which could potentially transport a patient.

“Sorry, it doesn’t quite work out,” Jim Abrams, the island’s regional director, told Global News.

Abrams said the nearest air ambulance is located in Richmond, an hour’s flight away. He said helicopters are also limited by weather and visibility.

Water taxis are also susceptible to weather, he said, and require paramedics to lift a patient out of an ambulance and to a pier and steep ramp to load them onto the boat.

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He said the option of last resort is the Canadian Coast Guard, which is often unavailable due to other maritime emergencies.

“What do we do with people who are in cardiac arrest, or who have fallen and broken a hip or who have been in a motor vehicle accident or are seriously injured from internal injuries, or head injuries?” Abram asked.

“We should be able to bring those people into the city. The people of Quadra are worried.”

Abrams said he had recently met with the boards of both BC Ferries and BC Ambulance Service to express concern.

He said he would like to see a return to 24-hour emergency ferry service, and suggested that water taxis be used to bring the crew to the island while paramedics are collecting patients, if staffing is the issue.

Ridgeway said he was hopeful that the meeting could yield results.

“They’re promising us that they’re going to come up with some solution for us… in a week, hopefully we’re going to get something back from them,” she said.

“I want to be optimistic about it, but it’s tough.”