Client:Service Development
Date:September 07, 2012

​BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) held a public ceremony and open house at station 341 in north Kelowna to celebrate the completion of a major expansion of the facility.

“Upgrading the existing station keeps emergency services embedded in this community and improves the capacity of BC Ambulance Service paramedics to serve this entire district,” said Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick who attended the ceremony.

The renovated station at 190 Mills Rd. has more than doubled in size to accommodate four ambulance bays, new storage rooms, office space and a dedicated area for paramedic training. Local government, fire department and R.C.M.P. officials attended the ceremony while local paramedics offered public tours of the facility.

“This station provides our paramedics with a safe, more productive working and resting environment that enables them to meet our high standards for patient care and maintain and upgrade their skills,” said BCAS Executive Director Mike Michalko.

At the ceremony, station 341 Unit Chief Robert Atkinson accepted a plaque to rededicate the station to its workforce of 60 paramedics. BCAS unit chiefs from all three Kelowna-area stations received a plaque from MLA Norm Letnick to commemorate the recently passed legislation giving emergency responders access to information about exposure to potential disease.

Kelowna station 341 provides all the equipment and training to support BCAS operations in the area. In 2011/12, paramedics responded to over 14,000 pre-hospital events in Kelowna.

Kelowna Station 341 Unit Chief Robert Atkinson (right) celebrates with Kelowna area paramedics