Ambulance Service
British Columbia Ambulance Service
The Ambulance Paramedics working out of the Vernon station primarily serve residents of Vernon. The area population is approximately 75,000 including Vernon, Armstrong, Enderby, Oyama, Falkland, and Cherryville. We have two large lakes, Okanagan and Kalamalka that we service and many tourists are attracted to these and many smaller lakes. During the summer the population of the area nearly doubles. Silver Star Mountain is a major skiing destination and we respond upwards of 4 times a day winter or summer to the mountain. We have 3 cars at our station. We have a day shift car that works from 07:00 in the morning to 18:00 in the evening. This car is staffed with 2 full-time EMA 2/PCP paramedics. We have a full-time car, which runs 24 hours 7 days a week and is staffed with 2 full-time EMA 2/PCP paramedics. We also have a call-out car, which is staff on a call-out basis 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Paramedics staffing this car are on pager and respond to the station when paged. We are dispatched out of Kamloops as part of region 3. There are 14 full-time regularly scheduled and 3 irregularly scheduled employees at our station, with 12 part-time primary operators.
The Vernon Coverage area is north to half way to Armstrong. West to Westwold - half way to Kamloops on Hwy 97. South on Westside Road to Fintry and South on Hwy 97 to Oyama. East half way to Lumby on Hwy 6. We back up the communities of Armstrong, Lumby, and Enderby. Nearly all patients are transported to Vernon Jubilee Hospital (VJH) initially with transfers to Kelowna and Kamloops. We are a provincial service and can find ourselves just about anywhere in the province of B.C. on any given day.
Our Services
Pre-hospital, inter-hospital care and transportation of sick and injured patients.
The protocols that our paramedics perform are that of the “Primary care paramedic”, which include: Air way management, Defibrillation, Intravenous therapy, fracture and spinal management. We have protocols for anaphylaxis/allergy, overdose, diabetics, psychiatric emergencies, asthmatics, chest pain MI, shock and blood lose. We provide emergency medications such as nitroglycerine, asa, ventoline,D10W, normal saline, thiamine, glucagon, epinephrine, and narcan. Our paramedics are trained to the nationally recognized standard of ‘Primary care paramedic”.
Our Dispatch Methods
Dial 911, all calls are transferred from the 911 centre to the Regional ambulance dispatch centre in Kamloops. We are dispatched by the Kamloops East repeater, which covers Armstrong, Barriere, Chase, Enderby, North & South Kamloops, Logan Lake, Lumby, Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Clearwater, Revelstoke, Vernon, and Blue River
We Belong to These Organizations
- Station 337 of the British Columbia Ambulance Service
- Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. CUPE Local 873
Activity for the Years 2003/ 2004
Total ambulance calls for Vernon: Over 7,000 and climbing steadily.
Links
St. John Ambulance
St. John Ambulance is a not-for-profit, community service organization that has operated in the Greater Vernon area for almost 40 years. We offer several community service volunteer programs, including:
Brigade - Community Service Patient Care volunteers, offering no-charge first aid and emergency service to participants and spectators at a wide variety of community events. Volunteers are fully trained, equipped, and uniformed for easy recognition. The Brigade also participates in crisis and disaster situations, such as the Forest Fire crisis of 2003, working with Emergency Social Services and the Provincial Emergency Plan, as well as with North Okanagan Regional District and City of Vernon Disaster Response Plans. - Cadets - Youth leadership development and training program, for young people aged 6 to 21 years.
- Therapy Dogs - Volunteers, both human and canine, who visit seniors and special needs children, bringing proven health and development benefits.
St. John Ambulance also offers public and industry first aid and safety training through our Training Centre located in Vernon. Revenues raised from training and product sales help to support community service programs.
Our BC website is www.sja.ca/bc, with program information, course schedules, volunteer opportunities, branch locations, and much more.
