A ten-episode Knowledge Network series is providing a behind-the-scenes look at the work of local paramedics and dispatchers.
Paramedics: Life on the Line began airing on April 2, and footage was shot in Lower Mainland with parts being filmed in Surrey.
Produced by B.C. film producers Lark Productions the show is branded as the “unofficial prequel” to the award-winning Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH.
The series aims to shed light on controversial struggles facing everyday people in Lower Mainland communities, such as the opioid crisis, homelessness, language barriers, the aging baby-boomer population and more.
Paramedic Andrew Mills said all of these issues are of concern in Surrey.
“Surrey is very different than a lot of other places, it’s very busy,” said Mills, who is featured in four of the 10 episodes and has been a paramedic throughout the Lower Mainland for about a decade.
“It’s the second busiest in terms of call volume for medical emergencies in B.C.,” he noted, second only to Vancouver.
In 2018, there were 50,535 medical emergency calls in Surrey, up from 50,729 in 2017 and 49,046 in 2016.
Click here to stream already released episodes.
“And Surrey, it’s much more spread out in terms of where you’re responding to. Also with only the one hospital, Vancouver has several. There’s also of course some language barriers.”
“We draw heavily on resources at the scene,” he added, “so if there’s a family member that’s available to speak both English and the other first language the patient has, we often get them to translate. Grandchildren often help. There are some language barriers with different communities in Surrey, specifically South Asian, but it’s also a very multicultural community just like Vancouver. There’s so many different people from so many different places.”
Paramedics use a “Language Line” to help with this challenge, Mills said. It’s a 24/7 phone service paramedics are connected to that allows them to call in and get an interpreter in approximately 200 languages.
Callers are connected to a translator in less than a minute, often in about 30 seconds, meaning patients can have a full dialogue in their own language, with an interpreter who is trained to work within a medical environment.
And a new tool, developed by B.C. paramedic James Shearer, is helping on the streets.
Called the Emergency Medical Translator, the pocket-sized book includes questions and statements in English and 12 other languages, along with 11 pages of symbols, diagrams and images that may help people communicate, intended for use by paramedics, EMTs, nurses, doctors, first aiders and other first responders.
“I have one myself. They just came out and I’m excited to use it. It’s a real-time translation tool,” said Mills. “In Surrey, it’s such a diverse community that every single day you’re encountering language barriers.”
(Paramedic Andrew Mills, who is featured in Knowledge Network’s series Paramedics: Life on the Line. Submitted photo)
Another prevalent issue in Surrey is, of course, the overdose crisis.
“It isn’t unique to Surrey but it’s particularly hard hit. Six to seven overdose calls come in everyday in the City of Surrey and I’ve responded to many of those in my career,” said Mills.
In 2018, there were 2,473 overdose emergency calls in Surrey and 210 people died.
SEE ALSO: Roughly one person died every two days from drug overdoses in Surrey
RELATED: B.C. opioid overdoses still killing four people a day, health officials say
“In my opinion what’s made it a crisis is it’s touched so many people from so many different walks of life, from different areas, from different socio-economic backgrounds.”
He said those at highest risk tend to be the occasional users, who don’t think or know there’s an opioid in the drug they’re taking and are experimenting alone.
“It’s not as visible,” he said, noting some more entrenched users tend to have access to Narcan, a life-saving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
Mills said since the modular housing for homeless opened last summer in the Whalley area, near 135A Street, is “certainly less chaotic.” He said more people seem to be getting earlier intervention and fast access to Narcan from a staff member when an overdose occurs.
“But there’s obviously unique challenges that are undeniable in that particular community.”
Mills said response times can be another challenge in Surrey, simply due to the city’s size.
“It’s a big city, it’s also very spread out, there’s populations and density areas throughout,” he explained. “Like any city that can impact response times but generally speaking they have different cross-over points in Surrey and can re-distribute other ambulances to cover those areas. Ambulances might be called in from White Rock or Delta of New Westminster into Surrey if there’s a resource shortage.”
Surrey’s 135A Street is featured in the series, as is a business in Guildford in which an employee suffers a seizure, and of course Surrey Memorial Hospital.
READ ALSO: B.C. paramedic aims to save lives with multi-language translation book
While Mills said it was a foreign concept to have camera crews shadowing he and his paramedic colleagues, the end result has been eye-opening.
“It was a first for a lot of us,” he said. “The thing is, for paramedics we tend to rush to the scene, treat the patient, stabilize them, then by the time folks like yourselves show up we’re long gone. We’re not used to being in the public eye.”
He said the series has shown an accurate, behind-the-scenes look at the emergency process.
“There’s been many shows that have focused on medical emergencies and patient stories but what’s unique about this show is it starts from the moment someone calls 911,” he explained.
The show follows calls from dispatch, to triage, to medical instructions being given over the phone, to when an ambulance is dispatched, to the ambulance drivers rushing to the scene and whatever happens from there.
“The patient’s story weaves its way throughout that,” Mills explained. “It’s even interesting for me to see the process captured. I haven’t seen the entire process, the dispatchers and call takers don’t get to hear from patients after they hang up the phone, and we do’t know what happens before we get there.
“So it’s interesting for the public and educational for us as well.”
During filming, Mills was surprised how many patients were excited to be on camera.
“I sort of made my peace with it and thought, ‘Well good luck getting anything,'” he chuckled. “But so many people were excited to be on camera and to have their story shared, but to also help tell the story of how the 911 process because that’s really what the show does.”
So far, the reactions to the show have been positive, said Mills.
“We’ve had people that are coming up to our paramedics on the street and mentioning the show, increased interest in people wanting to become a paramedic.”
For Mills, a personal connection has been made since the show began airing on April 2.
“A patient contact me on Facebook saying I had responded to a medical emergency five years ago, and unfortunately declared her father dead at the scene. She remembered that moment and the way the paramedics on the scene stopped everything they were doing and made her the priority,” he said. “She said she has always remembered that and had this overwhelming sense of gratitude. Expressing that was the missing piece. She felt like seeing the show and putting that face again to the person who was kind to her gave her closure.”
Mills said being a paramedic is both “incredibly rewarding and incredibly demanding.”
“There’s difficult days where you see challenging things and struggle to make sense of it all. Then there are amazing days where you’re working with a fantastic partner and you’re helping people and making a difference.
“Really what paramedics do is bring the emergency rooms to the street. The ER to the patient’s living room.”
Episodes that have aired can be streamed at knowledge.ca/program/paramedics. Audiences can also tune in every Tuesday at 9pm (PST) from their TV, computer, or through the Knowledge Network App.
Episode five of 10 is airing Tuesday (April 30).
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