EMS response times in Prince Rupert have Councillor Cuningham looking towards Fire Hall for possible dispatch work

Response times and concerns over EMS dispatch made for a short
them of discussion for City Council on Wednesday

Prince Rupert Councillor Barry Cunningham relayed some concerns he has heard from members of the community when it comes to the response time for EMS personnel in the region, and the ongoing protocol of Prince Rupert calls for assistance being routed through locations such as Kamloops.

Speaking towards the end of the Special Council Session on Wednesday, the councillor relayed the sense of concern he had heard from the community and asked why the City could not investigate using the city's Fire Hall Dispatchers towards addressing the local calls for assistance.

"It's been brought to me personally the slow times for EMS responding to incidents in our town and the confusion when people phone 911.  That it's being directed to Kamloops, Kelowna, Victoria and they're being asked questions that somebody not familiar with our town would naturally ask and it delays the EMS response as it is.

And the fact that we have dispatchers at the Fire Hall, I'm wondering why we can't take care of our own 911 calls in this town" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham

Councillor Barry Cunningham is looking to have the city's EMS calls
 for assistance returned to the city's Fire Hall dispatch service than
 through the Current provincial call centre process

In reply to his commentary, the city's Corporate Administrator Rosa Miller advised that it was a theme that she and the Fire Chief had spoken on and taken to the province as a community concern.

"It is actually something that we have been in conversations with the Fire Chief and myself as well as the province. So we are looking at alternatives to the traditional 911 dispatch service. So we can certainly do some additional research and get back to council on that" -- Corporate Administrator and Acting City Manager Rosa Miller

A number of years ago the City's own dispatchers handled all of the emergency calls in the community, over the years those services were redirected to other sources. With the RCMP calls for assistance now routed through Prince George, while as the Councillor noted the EMS calls for assistance are forwarded to Kamloops or other dispatch centres.

The conversation towards the Emergency Medical protocols at the moment can be reviewed through the City's Video archive, the conversation starts at the one hour four minute mark.

Notes on Health Care in the community can be reviewed from our archive page here.

The work of Northwest Emergency responders is chronicled here.

More notes related to the Special Council Session of Wednesday are available  here.