Planning on skiing Big White this season?

[janalta]

I didn't realize the province was paying...I misunderstood it to mean Big White pulled a service they had previously provided. If that is the case, I agree janalta.

It is BC Ambulance servicing the area, including Big White.
As far as I know, BC Ambulance Services is not contracted out and paid by private companies....it is the province.

They state clearly on their web site that in case of a medical emergency, call 911...again, a provincial service.

Big White has a medical clinic on site...if they are that concerned about the health and safety of their guests, they may want to keep that facility open on weekends instead of just operating Mon-Fri.

[LoneWolf_53]

Not sure what to think about that situation. There's some fairly pricey real estate up there, so one would think that having an ambulance to serve the area, wouldn't be too much to expect, whether it's the province providing it or not.

I don't live amongst the elite, so don't know how things work up there, but one would imagine someone is collecting taxes on all that property no?

I know in times past, things have happened up there in the wild, one time I even recall being at the race track and having to shut things down, because we sent the St. Johns crew out to help a severely injured biker, until an ambulance could arrive to deal with him.

With logging active in those parts as well, it just seems prudent to keep an ambulance in the area.

[janalta]

Not sure what to think about that situation. There's some fairly pricey real estate up there, so one would think that having an ambulance to serve the area, wouldn't be too much to expect, whether it's the province providing it or not.

I don't live amongst the elite, so don't know how things work up there, but one would imagine someone is collecting taxes on all that property no?

I know in times past, things have happened up there in the wild, one time I even recall being at the race track and having to shut things down, because we sent the St. Johns crew out to help a severely injured biker, until an ambulance could arrive to deal with him.

With logging active in those parts as well, it just seems prudent to keep an ambulance in the area.

Having an ambulance up at BW isn't much good to anyone out that way anyhow...unless they all manage to keep injuries and health problems restricted only to ski season. Doesn't help them the other 8 months of the year.

[LoneWolf_53]

Having an ambulance up at BW isn't much good to anyone out that way anyhow...unless they all manage to keep injuries and health problems restricted only to ski season. Doesn't help them the other 8 months of the year.

I was implying that there should be one available year round. There are year round residents up there, hunters, loggers, outdoor enthusiasts, like dirt bikers, quads etc. Just seems to me there's enough development up there to justify it is all.

[janalta]

I was implying that there should be one available year round. There are year round residents up there, hunters, loggers, outdoor enthusiasts, like dirt bikers, quads etc. Just seems to me there's enough development up there to justify it is all.

Where do you draw the line though ?
Do residents in Joe Rich have that much longer wait for emergency services than those in Gallaghers, Westbank, Peachland, Bear Creek, Okanagan Mountain?
It's not exactly practical to think that emergency services should be located everywhere you find recreational activities like quadding or hunting.

[dreamon]

It should be simple enough for BCAS to pull stats that show the number of ambulance calls to the Big White area, time of year and type of injury (ski, bush, car accident related etc).

To have an ambulance at Big White obviously requires the capital expenditure of the ambulance itself, a garage and possibly lodging. To staff it 24/7, how many paramedics at close to $100,000 pa with all benefits does it take? 4, to cover time off, holidays, sick etc?

Having a publicly funded fee for service, private helicopter operator with something like a BK117 or an AS350B2 or B3 makes far more sense. Response time can be kept in the golden hour, to any number of locations within a 100nm radius of the helicopter base. The machines I mentioned are light, nimble and versatile. One is a twin, the other an excellent single. Both well tried and tested in air ambulance work.

Forget skiers and broken bones for a minute, think of a logger or a car accident in that radius or larger who have suffered trauma. Do you want to wait for a ground ambulance to hopefully find you and get there, then an equally long and bumpy ride to the ER, or a swift arrival and swift departure?

[LoneWolf_53]

To have an ambulance at Big White obviously requires the capital expenditure of the ambulance itself, a garage and possibly lodging. To staff it 24/7, how many paramedics at close to $100,000 pa with all benefits does it take? 4, to cover time off, holidays, sick etc?

Having a publicly funded fee for service, private helicopter operator with something like a BK117 or an AS350B2 or B3 makes far more sense. Response time can be kept in the golden hour, to any number of locations within a 100nm radius of the helicopter base. The machines I mentioned are light, nimble and versatile. One is a twin, the other an excellent single. Both well tried and tested in air ambulance work.

Good points.

[theyeti]

my buddy was an emt made 3 dollars an hr on call most of the time . he found other work quickly ......

[janalta]

my buddy was an emt made 3 dollars an hr on call most of the time . he found other work quickly ......

Wrong. $3.00/hr would have been his pager pay...meaning, he was getting paid to carry a pager just in case there was a large scale emergency that the on call EMT's couldn't handle alone.
On call pay is , at minimum, minumum wage. ( which is $10/hr right now )
Not so bad for not working really.

[joer2012]

Having a publicly funded fee for service, private helicopter operator with something like a BK117 or an AS350B2 or B3 makes far more sense. Response time can be kept in the golden hour, to any number of locations within a 100nm radius of the helicopter base. The machines I mentioned are light, nimble and versatile. One is a twin, the other an excellent single. Both well tried and tested in air ambulance work.

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.

[DaveC]

To have an ambulance at Big White obviously requires the capital expenditure of the ambulance itself, a garage and possibly lodging. To staff it 24/7, how many paramedics at close to $100,000 pa with all benefits does it take? 4, to cover time off, holidays, sick etc?

Having a publicly funded fee for service, private helicopter operator with something like a BK117 or an AS350B2 or B3 makes far more sense. Response time can be kept in the golden hour, to any number of locations within a 100nm radius of the helicopter base. The machines I mentioned are light, nimble and versatile. One is a twin, the other an excellent single. Both well tried and tested in air ambulance work.

Good points.

And after dark?

[janalta]

And after dark?

And...exactly how many life threatening ski accidents occur after dark ?

[joer2012]

And after dark?

And...exactly how many life threatening ski accidents occur after dark ?

Oh my, really?

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

[mikest2]

And after dark?

And...exactly how many life threatening ski accidents occur after dark ?

Skiing ends at 8PM !

[dreamon]

And after dark?

It's called a night rating.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/r ... 1-1086.htm

Can be taken a step further under the right conditions and equipment, an IFR rating