Concerns arise about ambulance services in Sooke, B.C.

Community members say an empty ambulance hall is a far too common sight as paramedics are called to emergencies in larger communities.

Troy Clifford, provincial president of the Ambulance Paramedics and Dispatchers of BC union, says there's a domino effect when paramedics are called to larger communities in the region.

"Everything gets pulled into where the volumes are," he said Monday.

When resources are needed in Victoria, BC Ambulance will pull from the West Shore, according to Clifford. That leaves Sooke’s resources to cover the West Shore if that community's paramedics are in Victoria, often leaving Sooke with the nearest ambulance 20 minutes away.

B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) recently added an ambulance staffed in Sooke to a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week schedule.

"Quite often that is being drawn into the West Shore, and even farther in, and we’re seeing that from up the peninsula as well," said Clifford.

In a statement Monday, the BCEHS said that the closest paramedic unit to an emergency always responds to the call.

“BCEHS has added hundreds of new paramedic positions across the province in the past year, including seven new permanent, full-time positions in Sooke,” added the organization.

Despite the new hires, Clifford estimates the province is still short at least 500 paramedics. He says the problem lies in the larger metro centres, which draw resources out of the smaller centres.