Any British Columbia (Vancouver) Medics on the forum!?

[DigDugDude]

Got dual citizenship thinkin of taking advantage had a few questions for anyone who has lived/lives out there! Respond on here or message me!

Much appreciated ladies and gents!

!digdugdude

 

[Medic Tim]

I believe there are a few from BC here.

 

[medicasaurus]

I know I am not the only one on here but I work in the Fraser Valley. Here in BC It's a Provincial EMS organization called British Columbia Ambulance Service. The standard provider level in the Lower Mainland is the Primary Care Paramedic (most with IV endorsement) and a targeted Advanced Care Paramedic rig in larger population area's. Air Ambulance in BC is also BCAS with providers being Critical Care Paramedics.

The Wiki page for BCAS has lots of good info.

Licences here are issued by the Emergency Medical Assistants Licencing Board (EMALB) they do have some stuff for transfering from another country.

I am unable to provide links at this time but google should sort you out with searching for "BCAS" and "EMALB"

 

[DigDugDude]

thanks guys!

Yah I checked out the wiki and the province ems sites. I was actually curious how the job market is for paramedics? And is there any nearby oil drilling jobs in the BC area?

 

[Medic Tim]

I work in the oil fields. The company I work for has a base and several contracts in BC. Though I am not exactly sure where in BC the contracts are. They are also hiring.

 

[DigDugDude]

Thanks for the PM's and responses on here guys! Tim what company do you work for?

 

[DigDugDude]

SO! Looks like Vancouver it is!

An update!


I got all my paperwork in the mail and i now have my proof of canadian citizenship! The next Winter program at the justice institute in chilliwack will be taking apps around october of next year!

So now i just bide my time wait and see how things go!

Any other BC medics lurking around on here that i can ask about the work environment?

 

[cprted]

Before you jump in, we should probably explain how staffing works with this outfit ...

After you're done your program and your a licensed PCP you can be hired by BCAS as a part-time paramedic (part-time is a euphemism for casual, no benefits, zero guaranteed hours). As staffing is done province wide by seniority, your first station will be of the Rural or Remote variety and will be no where near Vancouver. Many Vancouver people's first stations are places like Lillooet, Ashcroft, Lytton, Princeton, Keremeos, Oliver, Merritt, just to give you an idea.

As a part-timer (casual) you submit your availability each month and are then scheduled into shifts for which you said you could be available. Most Unit Chiefs in smaller stations are good about scheduling people that commute from the city into blocks of shifts so you don't have to drive all the way up to work a 12 or 24 hour shift that may, or may not cover your gas expense. Speaking of shifts, most of your shifts will either be Kilo or Fox.

A kilo shift is an on-call shift. You carry a pager, but can otherwise carry on about your business. When the pager goes off, you respond to the station, get dressed, grab the car and away you go. You're paid a whopping $2/hr for the responsibility of carrying the pager and are paid a minimum 4 hour call out when you get paged. Its not bad if you're getting a paged 2-3 times per shift. Get skunked for a few kilos in a row and it sucks the big one, especially if you dropped $75 on gas driving to work.

A Fox shift is a standby shift. On stand-by, you are at the station, usually in uniform (though not actually required) and are phoned by dispatch if they have a call for you. On fox you are paid $11.45/hr to be at the station ready to go at a moment's notice and when you get called, are paid your full rate for the next three hours.

You'll spend 4-5 years working as parttime (casual), working your way into busier stations closer to home little by little until you finally get a fulltime position.