VANCOUVER -- Eight days after a special team of paramedics flew from the Lower Mainland to a northern B.C. town experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases, they have returned after fielding more than 100 calls.
A four-member Major Incident Rapid Response Team went to Fort St. James on Dec. 9 after the community’s paramedics couldn’t keep up with a slew of 911 calls as the community recorded 40 confirmed COVID-19 inflections; the community has just 1,500 residents.
At the time, B.C. Emergency Health Services said their top priority was to transport patients with COVID-19 outside the community for care, with providing support for Stuart Lake General Hospital in Fort St. James as their second priority.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Health told CTV News that while those specialized paramedics returned to their regular posts on Dec. 16, they are ready to be re-deployed as needed in communities experiencing surges in COVID-19 cases but that more resources are still on site.
“BCEHS continues to support Fort St. James with an additional ambulance, equipment and paramedic crew until Dec. 24,” wrote a spokesperson in an email statement.
“The additional ambulance is key to support the high volume of patient transfers in the community, including COVID-19 patients needing transfers out of the community and into hospitals that can provide more specialized care than what is available locally.”
