Man dies of heart attack in B.C. Interior village with only ambulance 35 minutes away

This story is part of Situation Critical, a series from CBC British Columbia reporting on the barriers people in this province face in accessing timely and appropriate health care.

An Ashcroft, B.C., man died on Sunday from a heart attack while waiting for an ambulance that took more than 30 minutes to arrive, even though the ambulance station is within sight of his home. 

The man, 84, whose name the authorities haven't disclosed, died a month after a woman who lived near him also died of a heart attack when the only on-call ambulance was also about half an hour away.

Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden says she feels "anger, frustration and deep sadness" for the family and friends of the elderly man.

"This was just a terrible coincidence with these two events happening so close to each other," Roden said. "It has a lot of people in the community really on edge, wondering what's happening [and] what's gone wrong."

Man was dead when ambulance arrived

Roden says the security camera footage near his home showed the man collapsed at 8:21 p.m. after suffering a heart attack. 

The Ashcroft Fire Rescue chief received the call at 8:42 a.m. and told the caller that the nearest ambulance was in Clinton — about 50 kilometres north of Ashcroft — and would take an estimated 35 minutes to arrive. It was the same message the woman who died last month received, says her friend.

According to Roden, the fire chief told the caller that the firefighters are all volunteers and not trained as medical first responders, but he said he would attend the site and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with an automated external defibrillator (AED) from the fire hall, given that he had received first aid training.

The firefighters arrived to perform CPR on the man, but when the ambulance arrived at the man's home at 9:11 p.m., he was dead, Roden said.

Roden says volunteer firefighters shouldn't be expected to do the work of paramedics as they don't have the training.

"In many rural communities already, it can be a struggle to find volunteer firefighters, and adding this expectation … is going to force a lot of volunteer firefighters out," she said.

BCEHS chief ambulance officer Leanne Heppell says the man had to wait for an ambulance from Clinton because local paramedics were all out on calls.

Heppell says the Ashcroft ambulance station doesn't have staffing issues as most of the permanent paramedic positions have been filled, but she also says permanent paramedic positions may not get backfilled if they are on sick leave. 

"We are actively recruiting to ensure that we have that casual pool when we have illnesses or vacancies that need filling," she said.

Pay paramedics better, union leader says

Troy Clifford, the president of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. union, says in order to solve the issues of long wait- times for ambulance services, the BCEHS should activate secondary ambulances and provide better compensation for casual paramedics.

"Pay them for the full shift rather than [on an] on-call model, and implement a temporary full-time position to get it through while we post and fill additional positions," Clifford told guest host Shelley Joyce on CBC's B.C. Today. 

In the meantime, while the province and BCEHS try to fix the problem, Clifford recommends that people receive CPR training to help neighbours in need while waiting for 911.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the B.C. government has made "dramatic changes" to emergency services, which include increasing ambulances and permanent paramedic positions across the province.

But he admits to challenges ahead, especially in rural communities.

"At the core of it is more people requiring ambulance service today, particularly what we call purple and red calls and most serious calls, which have increased 26 per cent over the last two years," he told CBC's On The Coast.