Officials with the Town of Coaldale and UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews call for the return of local EMS service delivery at the Coaldale Fire Hall, September 13, 2022. (Image: Town of Coaldale)

By David Opinko

Town of Coaldale pushing for return of local EMS services

Sep 13, 2022 | 12:08 PM

COALDALE, AB – The Mayor of Coaldale says Alberta Health Services (AHS) has “failed miserably” at protecting residents through its current centralized model of emergency medical services (EMS).

Jack Van Rijn, along with other officials from the town and UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews, spoke about their desire to return to a localized service delivery model for paramedics.

The Town of Coaldale used to operate its own ambulance service but moved to a centralized system run by AHS in 2010.

Van Rijn was the town’s deputy fire chief at the time and says he saw firsthand how the change impacted emergency services.

“Back in 2010, when Coaldale opted out of running their own ambulance service, I was on the ambulance for 27 years,” says Van Rijn. “Within the first year, I realized right away we had made a mistake just based on the response times.”

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He cited data from AHS that shows response times for life-threatening events in Coaldale doubling from approximately six minutes in 2012 to 12.5 minutes in the first quarter of 2022.

Likewise, there has been a 267% rise in “code red” events, where no ambulances are available in the community.

Van Rijn says there have been times where ambulances were brought in from communities as far away as Brooks to attend calls for service in Coaldale.

He explains that, in 2010, AHS wanted to be able to provide the same level of services in every part of Alberta.

According to Van Rijn, this resulted in many smaller communities having a greater number of paramedics on hand. However, he says AHS “failed miserably” at delivering those services.

Van Rijn instead wants to see Coaldale return to its previous model of local EMS delivery.

“If Coaldale is successful at taking back its ambulance service, it’ll be based out of our current fire hall where we have paramedics on staff, we have volunteers that are paramedics, and we have paramedics that are willing to come work for the Town of Coaldale,” says Van Rijn.

The new fire hall in Coaldale, which was completed in 2021, has sleeping quarters for emergency responders who are working long hours.

Van Rijn says he would look to utilize regular 12-hour shifts for paramedics as opposed to the “flex hours” system AHS uses. He says that system often sees first responders having to come to the hospital from their homes to get to an ambulance, thus delaying response times.

UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews spoke at the press conference in the Coaldale Fire Hall on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, saying he supports the transition to local service delivery.

“If I have the privilege of serving Albertans as their premier, I will support municipalities who want to take back the responsibility and the management and the function of EMS services in their municipalities,” says Toews.

Toews adds that, while there are advantages to consolidating and centralizing services, “centralization in healthcare is not synonymous with better deliver or better efficiency.”

Van Rijn told LNN that he has not spoken to any of the other UCP leadership candidates about this issue, but he would welcome the opportunity to do so.

A press conference featuring speeches from Jack Van Rijn and Travis Toews can be viewed in the video below.

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