Since November, BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) ambulance staff on Gabriola and the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR) station in Nanaimo have partnered to bring patients off Island to the hospital when the ferries are not running.
The formal agreement is between RCM-SAR and BC’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR). While fairly new, RCM-SAR has already attended 24 calls assisting paramedics with the transfer of patients across the water from Gabriola.
The agreement also covers calls to Mudge and Protection Islands.
Ruth Sharun, manager with the Nanaimo RCM-SAR, says when they get a call, volunteers are at the boathouse gearing up within 15 minutes and in the water on the way across the Salish Sea to Gabriola within 19 minutes.
Typically, Nanaimo paramedics are on the boat with RCM-SAR. They meet Gabriola paramedics at the Descanso Bay emergency dock, where the patient is transferred onto the boat. Nanaimo paramedics ride back and they then transfer the patient to their waiting ambulance and take them to the Nanaimo hospital. In the event the Descanso Bay wharf is not available, the boat can also be directed to Green Wharf or Degnen Bay Wharf, and is also capable of landing on a shoreline if that is what is needed.
Prior to this, president of the Nanaimo RCM-SAR Stephen Morison said assists with patents did happen but less frequently and informally. Now, EMCR pays Nanaimo RCM-SAR an hourly rate to attend calls that assist with patient transfer off Gabriola.
One of their vessels, docked at their boat house near the Departure Bay ferry terminal, was recently re-fitted with paramedics in mind, and the Sounder was invited to take a look. These features include three places to secure stretchers, a hoist with a flotation device to bring up stretchers from the beach if a dock is not available, and hooks for IVs.
Nanaimo RCM-SAR has 40 members, 25 are marine crew volunteers and the rest are actively involved in community safety education and fundraising. Every person is a volunteer, including on-call crew who need to be available two 12-hour shifts per week.
It’s a big commitment, but Nanaimo is fortunate to have enthusiastic volunteers.
“We are fortunate here in Nanaimo, to have when we put out a recruitment poster or advertisement, we do get a lot of interest,” Sharun said.
They run a $133,000 budget, funded in part by the City of Nanaimo and the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN). Last year, The RDN increased their annual funding from $22,500 to $33,000 for the next five years, 22 per cent of the organization’s operating costs.
Their operating budget is just enough to cover operations, including the extensive training all crew members go through.
The agreement with Emergency Management and Climate Readiness to work with BCEHS for Gabriola is already paying higher comparably to other marine emergency rescue calls they receive from other agencies.
“I started training back in 2014,” said president of Nanaimo RCM-SAR Stephen Morrison at the Departure Bay boathouse. “What we did then as an organization compared to what we do now, it’s amazing.”
This includes community initiatives, including their “Kid Don’t Float” signs around local waters like Silva Bay on Gabriola, and working with BCEHS, volunteer fire departments, and wildfire support, Sharun says their work with Gabriola organizations goes beyond the ambulance service, they are also part of the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department’s emergency response plan, should people need to transfer off-island in the event of a wildfire, and train with the GVFD. “Because we’ve trained together we know how to communicate should we all be needed for a particular rescue or emergency situation, and that’s so important,” she said.
By Hope Lompe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
Original Published on Jun 10, 2026 at 11:53
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