THURSDAYSEPTEMBER 25, 2014
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PARAMEDICS AND AMBULANCES
Qualicum not staffed Dashwood chief concerned; gov’t says it will hire more JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews.com
The chief thought it was important enough to post on a Facebook page, telling people Sept. 18 there was going to be no one staffing the ambulance station in Qualicum Beach for eight hours starting at 6 p.m. that night. “FYI, no staffed ambulance in Qualicum Beach from 2200-0600 tonight,” Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Acciavatti wrote on a local chat group’s Facebook page. “Ambulance may come from Qualicum Bay or Parksville....if they are not out on other calls. If they are all away then one may be a ways away.” Accaviatti confirmed this week the post was his and his assistant confirmed the lack of coverage happens in what’s often referred to as the town with the oldest population in Canada. “There are times when there is no coverage at all,” said Dashwood’s assistant chief, Nick Shantz. When there is no ambulance available in Qualicum Beach — whether it’s because it isn’t staffed or it’s on another call — paramedics will respond from Parksville, Cumberland, Nanaimo or another community, Shantz explained. The B.C. Ambulance Service would not confirm whether Qualicum Beach is without a staffed ambulance station from time to time. “B.C. Emergency Health Services has not been notified of any concerns by the fire chief,” communications director Kelsie Carwithen said through an e-mail Wednesday. “However, we are investigating to obtain more details.” On Tuesday in Whistler, Health Minister Terry lake told Black Press the government is aiming to add up to 80 rural ambulance paramedic positions in small communities by combining their duties with local care facilities. See ROLES, page A21
AUREN RUVINSKY PHOTO
District 69 superintendent Rollie Koop and Oceanside RCMP were among the additional support out to help direct traffic and supervise for safety on Wednesday, the first day of the school year in Parksville Qualicum Beach.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
All seem happy to be back, finally AUREN RUVINSKY
writer@pqbnews.com
It’s been a long strange journey in District 69, but yesterday students and staff were back for the first day of the new school year. “We’re on, what I think has been a very long journey,” said superintendent Rollie Koop at Tuesday’s board of education meeting. “It goes back to January when the proposition of potentially reducing the number of schools became a recommendation.” On April 30, the board voted to close
four schools and reconfigure the entire district and turned its focus to preparing schools for September. On May 28, the teachers’ partial job action escalated to rotating one-day walkouts and things got more complicated. “I’m so pleased to be here and I’m so pleased with what I’ve witnessed over the last three days in particular as people came back to the buildings,” he said, referencing a flood at the new Qualicum Beach Elementary a week ago, just the latest in a long line of complications. He praised “support staff, opera-
Live, Laugh, Drink Wine Two of Canada’s top comedians are in Parksville for one night.
tions and maintenance, teaching staff, principals and vice principals, district staff, contractors — all working side by side as something larger to ensure we have readiness today.” He said all the schools look great and the teachers have spent the last few days since the strike ended Friday preparing their classes and in many cases getting used to new schools or cleaning up water damaged teaching materials that had been in boxes on the floor in QBES.
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See TEACHERS, page A21