Surprise party for Revelstoke paramedic chief toasts 25 years of service
Published 6:15 pm Thursday, February 12, 2026
Revelstoke’s paramedic chief got quite the surprise when he showed up to work this Wednesday, as his family and health service colleagues from across the region toasted to his 25-year career.
Primary care paramedic Kyrykas “Kirk” Pitaoulis, the Revelstoke unit chief for BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), has led operations at Station 336 for 10 years.
And though Pitaoulis, 46, technically reached the quarter-century mark with BCEHS back in June 2025, the ambulance service committed to celebrating his leadership this Feb. 11, and invited fellow employees from Revelstoke and beyond.
READ: Revelstoke community leaders share condolences after Tumbler Ridge tragedy
All BCEHS staff who serve for 25 years receive a long service award and medal. Dakota Stone, clinical operations manager for the Columbia-Shuswap District, drove all the way from Kamloops to present the honour to Pitaoulis.
“He has led the station through significant growth,” said Stone, who oversees BCEHS operations between Armstrong and Field. “Thank you for your service, leadership and legacy you continue to build.”
Stone described the pride Pitaoulis exhibits in his work, regardless which of the station’s 30-something personnel he’s on shift with, and emphasized the deep trust he’s earned with Revelstoke’s paramedics that “cannot be bought.”
“He’s been bringing that unique, upbeat attitude to 336 for the last decade,” said colleague Caralea Taylor, who’s worked with BCEHS in Revelstoke since 2001.
Pitaoulis, whose career started in the summer of 2000, grew up in Calgary before taking an interest in emergency services at age 16. When his future wife crashed on the ski hill at Lake Louise, he sat shotgun with the paramedic who transported the couple to the hospital in Banff, considering the perks of getting to split time between skiing and ambulance driving.
“Just sounded like the best job ever,” he recalled to Black Press Media.
Training to become a certified paramedic through the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Pitaoulis launched his career at Station 525 in McBride at age 20 before transitioning to Station 411 in Invermere for 12 years. After relocating to Vancouver to start his family, then serving as unit chief up in Terrace for Station 645, he settled in Revelstoke — with “no plans to go anywhere” next.
“It’s been a deeply meaningful career,” Pitaoulis reflected. “To be able to help the staff be at their best, is what I really love.”
Likewise, for patients and colleagues alike, “you’ve just continued to show up to work like that every single day,” colleague Joel Nervais told Pitaoulis. “You go above and beyond.”
READ: VIDEO: B.C.’s first cancer physiatrist improving patients’ lives with movement
Nervais said Pitaoulis critically helped reverse the apathy he’d previously begun to feel toward the industry when he was reassigned to Station 336 from out of town and had to adjust to an unfamiliar community and unit. Thanks to Pitaoulis, “I felt a renewed animation for my job, and BCEHS altogether,” he said.
“Since Day 1, he’s been the most helpful and supportive unit chief,” Nervais added, calling Pitaoulis “a fair, safe and kind man who is way too generous with his time and, beyond that, a loving father and husband.”
With confetti sprinkling the floor of the ambulance garage, Pitaoulis’s wife, daughter and son raised a glass to him after reciting a poem they penned about their many shared adventures during his postings across B.C.
But after a decade with his Revelstoke unit, “you guys have made it the easiest station to work in,” a surprised and emotional Pitaoulis told his crew Wednesday. “I don’t take anything for granted. I’m really grateful.”
