(Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Alberta municipalities call for talks with province to repair ambulance services

Nov 19, 2021 | 11:10 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Local government officials are coming together to once again demand that the Alberta Government make necessary improvements to ambulance services in the province.

At the annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) convention, members passed a resolution that states:

“AUMA advocate for the government of Alberta to immediately consult with municipalities and the Health Sciences Association of Alberta [HSAA], to develop a plan to make urgently needed improvements to the delivery and performance of ambulance system where municipalities are recognized and compensated for the role they play in the support of the provincial health system.”

The HSAA issued a number of rolling red alerts in Calgary and several surrounding communities in recent days, meaning there were no further ambulances available to respond to emergency events.

This includes Calgary, Didsbury, Carstairs, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks, Black Diamond, High River, Priddis, Chestermere, Canmore, Banff, and Olds.

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The situation in Calgary is so severe that ambulances from other communities throughout Southern Alberta are being called in to aid Alberta’s largest city. On Thursday, an ambulance from Coaldale responded to an emergency event in Calgary.

The HSAA issues numerous Facebook posts like the one above every day.

Red alerts also impacted Medicine Hat and Strathmore.

HSAA President and Advanced Care Paramedic Mike Parker says events like these have become a pattern.

“As we have seen throughout this pandemic, municipalities are providing leadership where the UCP government has failed to act.”

“On behalf of our members, we applaud the AUMA for taking this initiative to address another crisis of healthcare. HSAA members are the paramedics that respond when people call for help. We are the experts, and we are eager to partner with AUMA to fix this problem.”

Parker says there have been no significant investments into EMS in about a decade now, and adds that “the only solution that will bring immediate change” is to fill the more-than 1,000 vacancies for emergency health professionals across the province.

The consolidation of 911 EMS dispatch is also an issue that the City of Lethbridge has made many attempts to try to rectify. Most recently, the previous city council sent an official complaint to the Alberta Ombudsman, claiming that consolidation has cost the city millions of dollars and has resulted in slower response times.

READ MORE: City sending complaint to ombudsman about EMS dispatch consolidation