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by Jane Campbell
BCEHS serves every part of BC’s nearly one million square kilometers, with 182 ambulance stations, more than 630 ambulances and over 300 response and support vehicles. Ensuring these vehicles are stocked, cleaned and ready to serve BC’s vast and diverse geography is a big job, one that’s done by the dedicated employees in logistics operations.
If you live in BC, you’ve almost certainly seen a BCEHS paramedic at work, but the ambulance readiness technicians and other members of the logistics operations team generally work behind the scenes. Although they may not be as visible to the public, these employees play a crucial role in ensuring BCEHS paramedic crews can respond to emergencies safely and effectively.
Logistics staff work out of eight ambulance stations based around the province: Station 140 Victoria Central Reporting Station (CRS), Station 240 Burnaby (Delesalle), Station 130 Parksville, Station 206 Chilliwack, Station 329 Penticton, Station 341 Kelowna (Keehn Road), 315 Kamloops (Clapperton Road), and Station 535 Prince Geroge (Hart Highway).
While paramedics typically clean and re-stock ambulances multiple times a shift, depending on how many calls they’re responding to, BCEHS ambulances are also specially deep cleaned by ambulance readiness technicians every 90 to 180 days. Ambulances at Victoria’s Central Reporting Station are seen by ambulance readiness technicians every 12 hours – which is unique to Victoria. Deep cleaning involves taking all the equipment and supplies out of the ambulance, cleaning and disinfecting every part of the vehicle from top to bottom and then returning unused supplies to its place and re-stocking new supplies as needed.
To allow for cleaning and maintenance, BCEHS has more ambulances in its fleet than are ever in service at any given time. When an ambulance leaves a station to go for a deep clean, it’s replaced by another ambulance from the fleet.
In certain regions of the province, ambulance readiness technicians also pre-make kits with the different supplies paramedics use to make it easier to restock ambulances. They use these kits during the deep cleaning process, and the bins are also available in ambulance stations to make it easier for paramedics to re-stock supplies.
All ambulances in BC have standardized equipment and supplies organized in a uniform layout that was developed by a committee of frontline staff. This means that paramedics always know where supplies are located even if they move between different ambulances or stations.
Angela Tolfree and Cynthia Wickwire are ambulance readiness technicians at Station 341 in Kelowna.
“Our main job is to deep clean, but we do a lot more than that,” Angela says. “We move vehicles, deal with broken equipment and we also help out paramedics with their cleaning tasks when we can.”
Angela has worked as an ambulance readiness technician for about three years. She previously worked as a care aide and a full-time mom to her kids who are now in their teens. Outside of work, Angela is the proud keeper of 13 koi fish and two shubunkins (a type of goldfish). Angela can tell them apart based on their colours and patterns and they all have names.
Angela doesn’t hesitate when asked about her favorite part of her job. “It’s definitely the people. I work with fantastic people. The paramedics and the management, too. Everyone is wonderful.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Angela’s colleague Cynthia gives the same answer.
“All the people I work with are amazing. Our crew in logistics, as well as the paramedics,” she says. “It’s like a whole new group of friends I didn’t have before.”
Cynthia also loves knowing that her work makes it possible for paramedics to do their jobs.
“The public doesn’t see it, but our stockroom is ready all the time. We keep it clean and ready so the paramedics can just walk in and grab what they need when they’re refilling their cars,” she says. “That’s what I really enjoy. It’s fulfilling knowing that what we’re doing is supporting a really big cause.”
Cynthia is a mom to three adult kids and a grandmother of four. One of her daughters recently followed in her footsteps and is now working alongside her in a casual role as an ambulance readiness technician.
The home base for provincial logistics operations is Station 240 Delesalle in Burnaby. Station 240 is three storeys and much bigger than most BCEHS ambulance stations. In addition to the ambulance bays, rest areas and kitchen space for staff that you’d find in most stations, Delesalle has large storage areas for equipment and supplies, offices and classrooms.
Andrew Chen manages logistics at Delesalle and Station 206 in Chilliwack.
In addition to deep cleaning and stocking ambulances, staff at Delesalle also install and repair the telecommunications equipment in ambulances, such as radios and computers, for the entire province.
Delesalle is also the base for the BCEHS Planned Events team. Planned Events provides contracted ambulance coverage for large-scale public events including Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions games, the Honda Celebration of Light and road races like the Victoria Times Colonist 10 km run.
Quickly and effectively responding to patients in crowded areas presents special challenges, and Planned Events has their own space at Delesalle for the equipment and vehicles paramedics use when working at public events.
Paramedics at large events often work on bikes, allowing them to make their way quickly through crowded areas where ambulances can’t go. These bikes are stored in the Planned Events equipment area when not in use.
BCEHS also has two utility terrain vehicles (UTV) that can be used to transport patients from areas at outdoor events that regular ambulances can’t reach.
Paramedics working on the planned events team also take special supplies with them. For example, the crews who work at hockey games, including Canucks games at Rogers arena, carry ice cleats in case they need to go out onto the ice to reach an injured player. They also have an extension for a clamshell stretcher that would allow them to carry a goalie in full gear off the ice.
Victoria's Central Reporting Station (CRS) is unique across BCEHS and the province. As a central hub it ensures that BCEHS logistics operations have a direct and significant positive impact on patient care on lower Vancouver Island.
“Unlike other places across the province, ambulances here are seen every 12 hours,” Logistics Manager Brandi Morin says. “This is the only station where this happens.”
Ambulances at CRS are cleaned and restocked twice a day – once in the morning when they return from patient care over the night shift, and again at the end of the day shift. This means the CRS ambulance readiness technicians know each vehicle well and see the patterns of how equipment and supplies are used over the course of the month.
“We restock thousands of the various kits paramedics use each month,” Logistics Supervisor Chris Bowers says. “When the ambulances are out and paramedics are responding to calls, the team here is preparing all of the supplies so we can clean and restock them quickly when they come back in and get them back out on the road.”
Large shelves of fully stocked, pre-assembled kits are prepared in the assembly area and then wheeled out to the ambulance bays for quick and easy restocking. These kits involve everything from analgesics to life-saving medications, bandages to help stop bleeding and dress wounds to kits specific to responding to medical emergencies in infants.
CRS ambulance readiness technicians also track the expiry dates for perishable medications, equipment and supplies, expiring and renewing key medications and pieces of kit that have reached the end of their useable life. Precision is the name of the game.
CRS ambulance readiness technicians don’t just restock kits and ensure the ambulances are deep cleaned; they prepare and count the various supplies to ensure that when paramedics in Victoria need to reach for a life-saving medication or piece of equipment, they know it will be there.
