The Madeira Park ambulance station will be relocating within that community, but the move is about a year away. That's according to a B.C. Emergency Health Services' (BCEHS) media department.
"We are pleased to confirm that the BCEHS ambulance station in Madeira Park will be moving from the building it currently shares with the Fire Department to a new location nearby in a building previously occupied by Fisheries and Oceans Canada," said an email from BCEHS.
"This new station will be purpose built for the needs of the ambulance service and will give our crews more space to work and rest during their shifts. We are currently in the early stages of extensive renovations to the new space. We anticipate it will be at least a year before these are completed. In the meantime, our crews will continue to work out of the existing station," the email read.
As for what will happen to the station's current space at the Gonzales Road fire hall, Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire Department chief Jim Cameron stated that its board has not yet received formal notice of the station's intention to leave, and anticipated that "will come when they ask to terminate their lease in the Madeira fire hall. We know it is planned and when they do leave the most likely thing is we will move our administration office downstairs into the space they have vacated. Really though, until we get notice they are moving we only have ideas and no definite plans."
There are currently no plans to change the staffing model for Madeira Park station, BCEHS confirmed. That station has an “Alpha” staffing model, with one ambulance staffed 24/7 by paramedics working at the station. BCEHS confirmed that there are 10 full-time paramedic positions in Madeira Park. Madeira Park also has a full-time unit chief and a full-time community paramedic position.
