BC Emergency Health Services deployed their rapid response team to Williams Lake this past Saturday (January 16th).
The team included 1 critical care paramedic and 1 primary care paramedic.
Shannon Miller Communications Officer for BC Emergency Health Services said a second replacement crew will start tomorrow and will be deployed until the end of shift this Thursday.
Miller said the primary role of the team is to support the community’s existing paramedics in both the transport of patients to higher level of care and 9-1-1 medical responses.
Miller said the rural community of about 10,000 is currently experiencing high levels of COVID-19 positive patients and that they are working closely with Interior Health to be called upon, as needed for support at Cariboo Memorial Hospital.
This is the second time BCEHS has deployed this specialized paramedic team as part of their pandemic response efforts.
The first was to Fort St. James in December.
In response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the region, the City of Williams Lake has increased its Emergency Operations Centre response to a Level 2.
Erick Peterson, EOC Director, said this was done this past Saturday (January 16)
“To be proactive the City has decided to elevate our EOC to level 2 which means there will be a few more staff working on it and we’ll be increasing our communications with the stakeholders within the community including Interior Health”.
Peterson said the City is working hard to help ensure that everyone stays healthy and safe, and will be providing regular updates and sharing all information as it is made available.
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