Province announces $91.4M funding boost for emergency services

The province has announced an additional $91.4 million in funding for emergency health services that officials say will quickenresponse time and improve access to rural communities.

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said the money will also go towardsat least six new ambulances in the Lower Mainland, as well asother necessary equipment forB.C. Emergency Health Services including stretchers, visibility gear and carbon monoxide monitors.

The money, to be handed out over the next three years, will also be used to hire 80 new full- and part-time staffers: 60 paramedics and 20 dispatchers.

The announcement comes as B.C.'s first responders are stretched by an ongoingopioid crisis.

Paramedics, firefighters and police officers have all expressed concerns about burnout among colleagues both mentally and physically.

In January, onehealth and safety worker with Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services said he'd never seen so much stress and anxiety in the force.

• B.C. MP, first responders call for national strategy on PTSD

The union representing the province's 911 dispatchers said its staff were "overloaded" with by up to 170 overdose-related calls a day.

BronwynBarter, the president of the Ambulance Paramedics and Emergency Dispatchers of B.C., said the crisis has "put another huge strain on a resource that was already under-resourced."

With files from CBC's Richard Zussman