New Westminster firefighters are now able to provide more medical assistance when responding to calls.
Starting today, the City of New Westminster’s firefighters will be practicing as emergency medical responders (EMR) instead of first responders. This is a licensing designation that allows New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services to provide a greater level of medical assistance at pre-hospital medical aid calls and is intended to augment local medical response resources and help ensure patients receive the critical care they need in a timely manner.
“This should provide improved patient assessment skills and new treatments to improve pre-hospital care for the people of our community,” said Deputy Fire Chief Brad Davie.
Under the new scope of practice, New Westminster firefighters will be able to assess blood pressure, blood oxygen levels and chest sounds. They’ll also be able to administer nitroglycerin and acetylsalicylic acid medication for emergency cardiac events, use bleeding control and pelvic binding tools for traumatic events, and have more pain control options.
Additional patient assessment and treatment capabilities will be introduced later this year, including measuring blood sugar levels and administering glucagon for diabetic emergencies, epinephrine for extreme allergic reactions, and salbutamol for respiratory emergencies.
According to the City of New Westminster, pre-hospital medical aid calls contribute to at least half of the calls the department receives on a daily basis, so these new medical skills and tools will be especially valuable when British Columbia Ambulance Services are overwhelmed.
The city believes the new skills and tools will also enable firefighters to better support the city’s Emergency Management Office during extreme weather events, declared states of emergency, or mass casualty events when city resources are being strained.
“The overwhelming number of medical calls that went out during extreme weather events in recent years have demonstrated the critical need for more emergency medical resources to prevent delays in providing time-sensitive treatment,” Mayor Patrick Johnstone said in a news release. “Expanding the scope of practice for New Westminster’s firefighters will alleviate some of the pressure on the emergency medical system and enable fire and rescue services to be more proactive during extreme weather events, which will increase community resiliency.”
Each year, New Westminster firefighters attends thousands of medical calls:
- 2023 total incidents – 7,446; 2023 medical calls – 4,147
- 2022 incidents – 6,631; 2022 medical calls – 3,402.
Davie said all of the fire department’s apparatus have staff with EMR capabilities. Firefighters will now be able to provide medical assistance at calls, but ambulance will still transport them to the hospital.
Delta Fire and Emergency Services has had this service for quite awhile, said Davie, adding it’s also offered in other communities.
According to a news release from the City of New Westminster, with support and encouragement from British Columbia Ambulance Services and the Emergency Medical Association Licensing Board, New Westminster city council passed a resolution in October 2022 for New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services to proceed with the required training and certifications to become EMR licensed.
