Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Legislation gives local emergency responders "piece of mind"

 MLA Pat Pimm was at the Fort St. John Fire Department today to present plaques of the recently introduced "Right to Know" legislation. The local Fire Department, along with the Taylor Fire Department, Charlie Lake Fire Department, B.C. Ambulance and RCMP were all given copies of the Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act.
 
The Act was introduced at the end of April, and gives emergency workers the ability to obtain a court order requiring individuals to give a bodily fluid sample, if not given voluntarily. Fire Chief Fred Burrows says this would be used in a situation where an emergency worker is exposed to the bodily fluids of someone with a high-risk lifestyle, like a drug user, who may decline to give a sample voluntarily, based on their history.

"If you're dealing with people who are at high-risk, there's always a chance of us getting affected by their medical problems, so this gives us the ability to find out whether we should start special treatment for whatever they may already have contracted."

He says before this legislation was in place, it would be a "long, tough fight" to find out if that person had a communicable disease like Hepatitis or HIV. Without knowing what that person may have, the worker could go on a cocktail of medications almost immediately, simply as a precaution. Darryl Key, Fort St. John's Paramedic Chief, says that although cases like that are rare in rural locations like the Peace Region, it gives workers piece of mind. (more)

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