About BC's Paramedics
Unlike most other places in North America, the province of British Columbia (located on the west coast of Canada)
is served by one single ambulance service...the British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS).
It is the primary emergency medical services (EMS) agency in the province, and street paramedics in British Columbia work for BCAS.
It is still a common misconception that firefighters are paramedics, and that fire departments provide ambulance services. Firefighters in British Columbia are not paramedics,
and fire departments do not provide ambulance services. In Canada, a growing trend over the past 3 decades has been to move away from
fire department-based paramedics and ambulances.
In the early 1970's, ambulance services were in disarray. Fire departments, community groups, funeral homes, and other companies provided uncoordinated
and limited service. There was no unity, and providers could not cross certain geographical boundaries, leading to ineffective patient care.
People realized the need for a single, unified, provincially-funded emergency medical services agency with no such boundaries. So in 1974,
the provincial government intervened and formed the British Columbia Ambulance Service, which it originally called the "Emergency Health Services Commission" (EHSC).
Private and municipal ambulances were absorbed into the new provincial service. Each unit was painted white with a diagonal red stripe - a color scheme that still appears today
on all of British Columbia's ambulances.
Since these early days, EHSC has evolved into a governing body now renamed the "Emergency AND Health Services Commission". It currently oversees numerous additional agencies
that provide other types of pre-hospital care (hence the slight name change), including BC Nurse's Line and BC Bedline. BCAS is now just a branch under EHSC, but it is still responsible
for pre-hospital emergency medical services throughout the province.
Today, the 3,200+ paramedics of the BCAS respond to over 550,000 calls each year, with demand for services increasing at approximately 10% annually.
They serve a population of approximately 4.4 million people, over a land mass that is 944,735 square kilometers in size -
an area that is roughly the size of the states of Washington, Oregon, and California combined. BCAS ranks
among the largest ambulance services in the world.
The modern BC Ambulance Service maintains almost 200 stations province-wide. There are 3 main dispatch
centers, located in Victoria, Vancouver, and Kamloops, which serve the entire province. There are no boundaries within the
province - a BCAS ambulance can respond anywhere in British Columbia.
BC Ambulance Service is still operated by the provincial government and funded by public tax dollars.
Paramedic Jobs/Wages
British Columbia's paramedics fall into one of the following categories:
'Part-time' (i.e. casual)
These positions make up the bulk of the workforce (approx. 2200 'part-time' paramedics in British Columbia). Generally located in rural and remote areas, they receive either $2/hour (if required to carry a pager, but not be at the station at all times) or $10/hour (if required to be at the station at all times). They have no guarantee of work, they may not be eligible for benefits for up to 6 years, and they must be available to work a minimum of 8 shifts every month (or lose seniority rights otherwise)'Full-time'
These positions are few in number (there are only approx. 1000 'fulltime' paramedics in British Columbia). Generally located only in larger urban centers, they are regular, salaried employees
or
Because there are so few 'fulltime' positions
in British Columbia, paramedics must work part-time in rural/remote areas for over 5 years before they accumulate enough seniority to acquire a 'fulltime' position. Many of these part-time paramedics
don't live in the communities in which they work, so they commute long distances to spend days at a time providing ambulance coverage at their own expense. Without the dedication of these selfless paramedics, many small communities in British Columbia would have no ambulance service at all.
With the opportunity costs of paramedic training programs in BC being nearly the same as formal diploma and degree programs, BC's paramedics argue that wages of $2/hour or $10/hour are simply not realistic enough to retain staff, or attract new candidates. At a baseline of $24 in pay for a 12-hour shift (minus taxes), many of BC's paramedics
work for wages that are far below the poverty line, and far below the government's own minimum wage standards.
Due to these circumstances, in recent years there has been a sharp decline in new hires. Many long-time paramedics are also leaving to take on new careers as police officers or firefighters, as these 2 professions both offer fulltime jobs right away, and pay their fulltime workers significantly more (approximately 30% more).
Many remote and rural stations now face critical staffing shortages. Approximately 240 BC paramedics leave the profession every year.
Paramedic Training
There are several levels of paramedic training in British Columbia:
- EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) - found in rural and remote areas, these may be community-minded people who have no intention of making a career out of paramedicine but just want to serve their community. They may also be individuals just coming into the profession, in the process of training to the PCP level. EMR is a prerequisite for PCP
- PCP (Primary Care Paramedic) - career-minded paramedics throughout BC are qualified to at least the PCP level
- ACP (Advanced Care Paramedic) - located only in a select few major, urban centers (Vancouver, Kelowna, Kamloops, Nanaimo, Victoria, Prince George, and the Fraser Valley)
- ITT (Infant Transport Team) - these are specialist ACP's, based out of Children's Hospital in Vancouver. They deal primarily with pediatric and obstetrics cases
- EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatcher) - based out of the afore-mentioned dispatch centers
There are only 2 paramedic training institutions in British Columbia:
- The Justice Institute of BC (for EMR, PCP, and ACP training)
- Academy of Emergency Training (for EMR and PCP training)
Infant Transport Team training is done in-house by BC Ambulance Clinical Education, as these positions are few in number.
Learn More
To learn more about BC Ambulance Service, click here to visit the BC Ambulance Service website.
You can also visit the CUPE local 873, Ambulance Paramedics of BC, union website here.
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