Client: Service Development
Date: March 15, 2012

Getting critically ill or injured patients from Terrace to specialty-care hospitals in Prince George or Vancouver will be faster, Les Fisher, Chief Operating Officer of the BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) announced today.

“Before March 1, physicians in Terrace’s Mills Memorial Hospital Emergency Department were the only people who could activate the critical care transport paramedic team and aircraft to rush a critically ill or injured patient to Prince George or Vancouver,” Fisher said. “Now, when paramedics arrive at the scene of a 911 call, they can determine if the patient may need to be air-lifted to a special-care hospital. They will activate the critical care transport paramedics and aircraft to begin preparing for the emergency flight right away.”

Previously:

• Patients would be transported by ground ambulance to the closest local hospital.
• The emergency department physician would determine if a patient needed to be transferred to a higher level of care.
• The physician would contact both the BCAS critical care transport program and
  BC Bedline to begin coordinating the emergency flight.
• This not only used valuable time, but in some cases, the airplane might already be transporting another patient with less serious injuries. This would further delay the flight for the emergency patient.

With the Early Fixed-Wing Activation Program:

• On-scene paramedics will immediately alert BCAS dispatch if the patient might require transport to a hospital providing specialized care.
• BCAS dispatch will ‘reserve’ the plane and notify the closest available critical care transport paramedic team to begin preparing for a flight.
• Paramedics will transport the patient to hospital, and the emergency department physician will decide within 30 minutes whether to evacuate the patient to University Hospital of Northern BC, Vancouver General Hospital or BC Children’s Hospital.
• If an air evacuation is required, both the plane and critical care paramedic team are available and ready to go immediately.

“Timely care is essential for better patient outcomes, and the early fixed wing activation program will get patients to the right place as fast as possible,” said Dr. John Ryan, BCAS Medical Director for Northern BC and the Trauma Director for Northern Health. “We don’t expect that many patients will need this service, but for those who do, quick access to a higher level of care can make a dramatic difference in their chances of survival and recovery.”

“The Early Fixed-Wing Activation Program has been in place for two years on northern Vancouver Island and it has significantly reduced the time for major trauma patients to get to the specialized care they need,” said Fisher. “The program is expanding to Terrace and will include the entire Northern Health region in the months to come.”

“This new program goes a long way towards addressing the very real challenges of providing trauma care in rural jurisdictions such as Northwest B.C.,” said Dr Richard Simons, Medical Manager of Trauma Services with Vancouver General Hospital. “Patients there will now be able to access trauma centres and the care they need much faster than before.”

For More Information
News Release: Critical patients in Terrace area receive rapid transport to higher care​