Planning on skiing Big White this season?

[dreamon]

Good points but there are times when heli's can't fly and an ambulance would be needed anyhow. Which kinda screws up the golden hour turning it into a golden two hours, minimum.

Indeed, but the times they can't fly are pretty rare.

[janalta]

Oh my, really?

Auto wrecks coming down off the hill. Drunken druggy shenanigans that end....badly.

We're not talking about having a station in a residencial area....we're talking about paying to have an ambulance and staff on call 24/7 at the resort.
Car accidents happen on a daily basis ( especially in winter ) on backroads and highways that are a lot further from emergency services than the Big White road.
Why should we, as tax payers, be footing the bill for a full time ambulance for those who choose to spend their winter weekends up on a ski hill just in case they drive into a ditch on their way back down?
Again...sorry, don't feel the need to pay for full time on call paramedics to tend to drunk or drugged out idiots who do something assinine and end up injuring themselves after a day on the slopes.

[joer2012]

don't feel the need to pay for full time on call paramedics to tend to drunk or drugged out idiots who do something assinine and end up injuring themselves

Yet that happens every day in town. So I guess it's OK to fund services for that gonghow?

[theyeti]

3 bucks an hr is not worth doing a darn thing . he had yrs of training to make that three bucks .

im willing to bet this has more to do with finding staff than with anything else .

shame on the province for taking advantage of a few good ppl trying to help others .

[dreamon]

3 bucks an hr is not worth doing a darn thing . he had yrs of training to make that three bucks .
im willing to bet this has more to do with finding staff than with anything else .
shame on the province for taking advantage of a few good ppl trying to help others .

The $3ph is the on call rate, to be available while you are going about your everyday life. If called, you are then paid a much higher hourly wage, can't remember the number.
One has a choice to be an on call paramedic, or not. If it is something you enjoy for whatever reasons, you have a life that can be dropped at a moments notice, then it is not a bad gig. If it is not something you want or can do, then don't. Pretty simple really.

[theyeti]

ya his fault i agree , however im sure there r way more like him .

and he was not able to go anywhere he had to be at the dispatch ready to go .

go and take the job yourself if u think its that great a gig . i hear they need a guy for big white

[theyeti]

pretty sure he got 15 or 18 when they were in transit to a scene.. not much considering 75 percent of his pay was at 3 dollars an hr

[janalta]

3 bucks an hr is not worth doing a darn thing . he had yrs of training to make that three bucks .

im willing to bet this has more to do with finding staff than with anything else .

shame on the province for taking advantage of a few good ppl trying to help others .

We'll try this again....$3/hr IS FOR DOING NOTHING.
Not on call, not sitting around with his life on hold waiting for a call.....getting money just to carry a pager.
They are paid at least minimum wage when they are actually ON CALL.
When they are working, depending on experience and training, wages are from $18-$30 an hour

[hvacguy]

3 bucks an hr is not worth doing a darn thing . he had yrs of training to make that three bucks .

im willing to bet this has more to do with finding staff than with anything else .

shame on the province for taking advantage of a few good ppl trying to help others .

We'll try this again....$3/hr IS FOR DOING NOTHING.
Not on call, not sitting around with his life on hold waiting for a call.....getting money just to carry a pager.
They are paid at least minimum wage when they are actually ON CALL.
When they are working, depending on experience and training, wages are from $18-$30 an hour

I think you need to get your facts correct janalta

Kilo shifts are strictly on-call and paramedics respond to a pager. A kilo-responding paramedic must answer a page by calling dispatch within two minutes but there is no requirement to arrive at the station within a set time. However, most on-call paramedics carry their uniform with them and do not engage in any activity that they cannot drop at a moments notice (including other employment obligations). Each Kilo call-out generates a minimum of four hours of pay, as long as the crew returns to the station before each successive call. In busier Kilo stations, due to this tiering effect, paramedics can make more money in a shift than a full-time employee working the same number of hours but it is still quite unreliable. The Kilo stipend, called "pager pay", is currently set at $2.00 per hour and is paid regardless of whether work is performed during the shift. There is no pager pay for working past the end of a shift, unless the same paramedic is scheduled for back-to-back kilo shifts. On-call paramedics are not expected to perform any duties and need not even be at the station until they receive a page out. For local residents who are hired as paramedics, this type of shift works well, as they can stay home during their shift or engage in other activities. For non-locals who have to commute, this can be quite problematic if it is a station with low call volume. This shift pattern makes it difficult to have a "life", since a long transfer mat be dispatched to a crew at the very end of their shift. There is no extra compensation for working past your scheduled hours, unless it is in excess of eight continuous hours.

Foxtrot is a compromise between a full-time shift and a Kilo shift. Paramedic crews on this shift pattern are said to be on "standby" and are required to be in their ambulance within 90 seconds of the page or phone call, just like a regular full-time unit. The Foxtrot stipend is currently $11.12 per hour and is increased to the full hourly wage for a minimum of three hours when a call is dispatched to the crew. As with Kilo, the crew is not expected to perform any duties while on standby. Should a call come in, the crew is considered to be "activated" for 3 hours and is under the direction of your dispatcher for that time. Unlike Kilo, if another call is dispatched to the crew within those three hours, no further pay is accumulated. After the three hour window or on returning to the station past the three-hour activation period, the crew returns to standby status until another call is dispatched

[DaveC]

Good points but there are times when heli's can't fly and an ambulance would be needed anyhow. Which kinda screws up the golden hour turning it into a golden two hours, minimum.

Indeed, but the times they can't fly are pretty rare.

You mean like night, fog, snow and wind?

As I recall those are pretty common occurrences.

[Kodidad]

Further to hvac, Big White is known as a seasonal car. Active only during the ski season. This car tends to be the entry level station where new paramedics begin their careers. Reason is due to the low amount of pay/calls and temporary nature of the station. The crewmembers are not from Big White but drive in from all other areas of the province. That happens when you're starting out with BCAS. They put in multiple days and nights in a row often without a call for---$2.00/hr pager pay, and for that, tend not to venture outside the village. There are bunks rooms at the station while they are there. This is a Kilo car only so as hvac noted there is no $11.00/hr standby rate, nor is it full time.

[theyeti]

thats pretty much what i said funny enuff i met the gentleman at refrigeration course in penticton small world i guess . props to hvac guy

[edwardv]

If big white wants an ambulance they can pay for one. I think they are about 500 bucks an hour to be on standby like a movie shoot.

I am so glad i quit BCAS good by 2 bucks an hour and a wasted day...

[janalta]

I think you need to get your facts correct janalta

Kilo shifts are strictly on-call and paramedics respond to a pager. A kilo-responding paramedic must answer a page by calling dispatch within two minutes but there is no requirement to arrive at the station within a set time. However, most on-call paramedics carry their uniform with them and do not engage in any activity that they cannot drop at a moments notice (including other employment obligations). Each Kilo call-out generates a minimum of four hours of pay, as long as the crew returns to the station before each successive call. In busier Kilo stations, due to this tiering effect, paramedics can make more money in a shift than a full-time employee working the same number of hours but it is still quite unreliable. The Kilo stipend, called "pager pay", is currently set at $2.00 per hour and is paid regardless of whether work is performed during the shift. There is no pager pay for working past the end of a shift, unless the same paramedic is scheduled for back-to-back kilo shifts. On-call paramedics are not expected to perform any duties and need not even be at the station until they receive a page out. For local residents who are hired as paramedics, this type of shift works well, as they can stay home during their shift or engage in other activities. For non-locals who have to commute, this can be quite problematic if it is a station with low call volume. This shift pattern makes it difficult to have a "life", since a long transfer mat be dispatched to a crew at the very end of their shift. There is no extra compensation for working past your scheduled hours, unless it is in excess of eight continuous hours.

Foxtrot is a compromise between a full-time shift and a Kilo shift. Paramedic crews on this shift pattern are said to be on "standby" and are required to be in their ambulance within 90 seconds of the page or phone call, just like a regular full-time unit. The Foxtrot stipend is currently $11.12 per hour and is increased to the full hourly wage for a minimum of three hours when a call is dispatched to the crew. As with Kilo, the crew is not expected to perform any duties while on standby. Should a call come in, the crew is considered to be "activated" for 3 hours and is under the direction of your dispatcher for that time. Unlike Kilo, if another call is dispatched to the crew within those three hours, no further pay is accumulated. After the three hour window or on returning to the station past the three-hour activation period, the crew returns to standby status until another call is dispatched

Basically a long winded version of what I said actually.
$2-3/hr for carrying a pager.
$10-11/hr for being on call ( or standby )
Full wage for actual calls or active duty.
Excuse me for not using the formal terms..Kilo ( which has been phased out in many stations ) and Foxtrot...still translates into pretty much the exact same thing I posted....therefore my 'facts' stand.

BTW - I doubt his buddy was a fully trained paramedic...sounds more like he was just starting out as an EMR
Either way...you would think one would check in to the expected salary of a career before getting into it

[janalta]

According to the front page, that ambulance is now going to be stationed in Lake Country.
Hard to argue that there is more of a need there than at Big White