BC expands flight paramedic program

“Our paramedics on the ground do great work taking people to the closest hospital,” Mulcahy said. “We work to get people in their home communities and take them to specialty care centres.”

Flight paramedics now work from five locations: Vancouver International Airport, BC Children’s Hospital, Prince George, Kelowna, and Fort St. John. There are also plans for a sixth station in Prince Rupert.

The new roles also offer subspecialty training. Advanced care flight paramedics can focus on adult care or on maternal, newborn, and child care. This helps them support vulnerable patients during long trips when hospital care is far away.

Mulcahy says the main goal of the new system is to let critical care paramedics, who have the highest level of training, focus on the most complex cases in the province.

“The introduction of primary care flight paramedics and advanced care flight paramedics is a new paradigm for BC,” he said, “and it frees up our critical care paramedics to do the most high-acuity patients, the sickest patients in the province.”

The expanded fleet is helping with the rollout, too. BCEHS has added 12 new King Air 360 planes and several new Bell 429 helicopters to reach more communities across BC.

For Mulcahy, the work is both personal and clinical. He says the role is meaningful and has an impact that goes beyond just the treatments provided.

“One of my mentors once told me they’ll never remember what you did for them, but instead how you made them feel,” he said. “What the family or the patient will remember is if you treated them nicely.”

by Dave Branco

BC expands flight paramedic program

What's Trending