Island style: Add some life to dad this year for Father’s Day Sports watch: Young track start on point at Garriock meet
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For all the news of the Cowichan region as it happens, plus stories from around British Columbia, go to our website www.cowichannewsleader.com
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Andrew Leong
Verna and Ernie Bleiker of Victoria admiring a bed of yarrow in the garden of Colleen and Donald MacGregor at Fairbridge Drive during the 19th-annual Cowichan Valley Garden Tour June 9. The Bleikers were celebrating their 51st anniversary that day.
Circle route help may be more than just a phone call away Peter W. Rusland
News Leader Pictorial
I
f you are one of the growing number of people driving the Pacific Marine Circle Route, be forewarned: help is not necessarily a phone call away. The B.C. Ambulance Service assures travellers its radio service and back-up options are dependable, but cellphone reception between Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew can be poor. Motorists can expect delays in help arriving, or being reached at all. Lake Cowichan fishing-business owner Mike Woodhouse pointed out his concerns in an email to the News Leader Pictorial. Home Of The
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Pacific Marine Circle Route: Ambulance service assures travellers its radio system is dependable, but gaps in cell phone service are a concern
“Locals and visitors have no idea help is hours away if there is an accident out there,” he said. “It makes me shudder thinking of someone hurt in a car wreck waiting for someone to drive an hour to get cell service, or to find a pay phone.” His mayday stemmed from conversations with Lake Cowichan log truckers, and retired mill workers. “My understanding is there is no radio communication at all, from Lake Cow to Port Ren-
frew, for the paramedics, something I see is a real safety hazard,” his email says. “I have heard the local ambulance service barely has any radio coverage in the Port Renfrew (area) at all.” Not so, explains an email from B.C. Ambulance Service spokesperson Kelsie Carwithen. “BCAS has a robust telecommunications system in place for the Marine Circle Route area,” she said. “This system ensures paramedics can communicate quickly and efficiently with each other, the BCAS Vancouver Island dispatch
centre, hospitals, and other emergency service agencies.” In an emergency, she says, paramedics have access to several communication methods: a VHF radio system; satellite-phone capability in both the station and ambulance; and access to the Ministry of Transport radio system – a radio-to-telephone system. “BCAS maintains good ongoing business relationships with telephone/cellular providers, and we work closely with them to ensure consistent, high quality service,” Carwithen says. A Telus agent was unavailable by deadline Tuesday to comment about poor citizen cellphone reception on the circle route. more on page A9
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