(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

An Ashcroft man died of a suspected heart attack on Sunday morning while paramedics were a half-hour away.

Neighbours called 9-1-1 after he collapsed before 9 a.m., Aug. 14, but the Ashcroft Fire Department later received a call after they were told it would be more than 30 minutes for the nearest ambulance to arrive.

It's the second time in less than a month an Ashcroft resident died within less than a block of the town's B.C. Ambulance Service station.

"Anytime we lose a community member, it's a tragedy," said Ashcroft mayor Barbara Roden, who also initially covered the story for the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal on Sunday.

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She said the "tight-knit" community of less than 2,000 people is increasingly frustrated and worried for the availability of healthcare, as a crisis in Interior Health is compounded by a shortage of paramedics.

"Nobody is expecting a response in ten seconds, but there is an expectation for a response in a timely manner," she said. "It speaks to a much larger problem within health care in general and (B.C. Emergency Health Services)."

The B.C. Ambulance Service, which operates under B.C. Emergency Health Services, wasn't able to comment immediately on this story.

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Roden said Ashcroft Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joshua White responded to the call knowing there was a lengthy wait for paramedics to arrive from Clinton.

The volunteer department generally doesn't respond to medical calls as members are not trained as medical first responders, but White has a first aid certification.

"When they get a call, as fellow community members, they will go. They can't not go," Roden said, adding that the additional responsibility to make up for a lack in healthcare responses puts a strain on the volunteer firefighters.

She said it's difficult enough to find volunteers in some small communities, so she would be hesitant to add medical first responder requirements for rural firefighters.

"I think if you add more expectations to them, that's a huge burden to them," Roden said.

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She also said the B.C. Ambulance station in Ashcroft was staffed over the weekend, but paramedics in town were likely busy on other calls.

Once local paramedics take on a call and rush patients to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, it can take up to two hours to transport, discharge and return to Ashcroft, Roden said.

“People in Ashcroft are scared. They deserve to have faith that when they call for an ambulance, one will arrive in a timely manner — and when they need emergency care, it will be available to them," Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart said in a media release issued today, Aug. 15.

She said her heart goes out to the loved ones of the deceased, as well as the members of the volunteer fire department who went above and beyond to try to help.

“The entire community is shaken by these incidents," Tegart said.

On July 17, a woman died in Ashcroft and a local firefighter responded as they waited for paramedics to arrive that morning.

She lived on the same block as the Ashcroft hospital, but the emergency room was closed over the weekend due to a lack of doctors.

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