BC Ambulance medics Rene Bernklau and John Richmond participate in the Asia Pacific International Conference skills competition in Australia.

Team Canada 2007 British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) paramedics won the silver medal at the Asia Pacific International Conference (APIC) and inaugural Simulation Challenge in Australia on September 28, 2007. Only one point separated Team Canada 2007 from the winning team, San Diego.

The team faced a stressful competitions. Working under the Australian College Standard protocols and procedures, they responded to a mock farmhouse that had been raided by the Queensland police SWAT team. The paramedics worked to treat three initial patients only to have a live explosion create an additional burn patient as a twist to the competition.

Team Canada 2007 is a group of four paramedics from the lower mainland with more than 100 years of combined experience and specialized skills. Andy Fletcher, an Advance Life Support (ALS) paramedic and district supervisor in Vancouver, is an expert on clinical skills; Rene Bernklau, a unit chief in Vancouver, specializes in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear emergencies; and John Richmond, an ALS paramedic in Richmond, has significant air-ambulance experience. Clarke McGuire, also from Richmond, functioned as the team manager and spare and has over 35 years as an ALS paramedic.

This team has consistently done well over the years, having placed first at the Rallye Rejviz International Medical Competition in the Czech Republic. There they competed against 32 teams, 28 of which included a physician

Picture Information — Picture 1 – The team at the Canadian consulate in Sydney awarding an Innuk- shuk to the acting consulate general Rick McElrea.Picture 2– Andy Fletcher (Capt) Clarke McGuire Manager, Rene Bernklau (scenario team leader), John Richmond (intensivist) on the 2nd place podium. First was San Diego ROCC- Third was FDNY paramedics.One point difference between first and second.Picture 3 – Rene Bernklau works on a “patient”