British Columbia Ambulance Service

British Columbia Ambulance Service

The British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) is the sole ambulance service and provider of pre-hospital emergency care in the province of British Columbia. It operates under the Emergency and Health Services Commission (EHSC) and the Provincial Health Services Authority, and is tasked with the provision of ambulance response province-wide. Today, BCAS is the largest Emergency Medical Services (EMS) provider in Canada and one of the largest services in North America. The BCAS has a fleet of over 480 ground ambulances operating from 187 stations across the province along with 47 support vehicles. It also provides inter-facility patient transfer services in circumstances where a patient needs to be moved between health care facilities. While some private, for profit, transfer services exist, the vast majority of transfers are handled by BCAS crews. Dispatch centres in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kamloops provide call-taking and ambulance dispatching services to the entire province. In addition, BCAS operates an airevac program that utilizes both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.