EDITORIAL: Time to look at priorities
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Updated: July 23, 2009 6:44 PM
Emergency care should be atop province’s list
The paramedic strike in British Columbia has shone light on some flaws in the delivery of emergency services in this province.
Paramedics are out to gain some respect, they say, respect they initially hoped would come with being paid as much as police officers and firefighters.
No one would dare say paramedics don’t earn every cent they get – starting wage for a full-time advanced care paramedic is $31 per hour. But asking for a seven-per-cent increase in each of the next three years at a time when global and regional recession has our economy in its grip and people are fighting to keep their jobs is seriously out of line.
That said, the province can begin to show respect to paramedics by properly supporting a system that we all count on to operate at full capacity in an emergency situation.
The B.C. Ambulance Service insists emergency service hasn’t suffered since the strike began – an essential service order has union members working to rule. But the BCAS is playing with fire and people’s lives by filling in gaps in service by pulling in ambulances from areas that are historically less busy.
All it would take is a plane to crash on the Peninsula, or a multi-car pileup on the Pat Bay Highway, for those ‘historic’ circumstances to be thrown for a loop.
Is the ambulance service, and ultimately Health Minister Kevin Falcon, willing to roll the dice that a major life-and-limb emergency won’t happen when the ambulances are not where they’re supposed to be?
With health-care costs rising constantly and the province’s financial situation growing ever more dire, every ministry needs to keep a lid on spending. That’s only responsible.
But when it comes to decisions that could make the difference between life and death – few government activities other than those in the Health Ministry do – it’s imperative that the province take a serious look at its priorities.
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