EMS Truck

By Connor Gunn

City sending complaint to ombudsman about EMS dispatch consolidation

Sep 27, 2021 | 3:05 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council gathered Monday as a last-ditch effort on their concerns surrounding the EMS dispatch services consolidation.

Mayor Chris Spearman called for a Special Meeting of Council to ask councillors to pass a vote to send a complaint to the Alberta Ombudsman on the topic of the consolidation.

The vote passed within 15 minutes and the complaint will now be sent.

AHS first announced plans back in August 2020 to transition the four municipally-run contracted satellite dispatch sites in Lethbridge, Calgary, Red Deer, and the Municipality of Wood Buffalo into the three centralized dispatch centres.

Spearman says this decision to send this complaint was a “no-brainer” and while he’s still Mayor he wanted to get this resolved.

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The consolidation which former Health Minister Tyler Shandro greenlit has cost lives according to Spearman.

The cost of the consolidation has been quite large to the city Spearman says and gives a lesser service to people who need help.

“Paying $1.2-million will prevent our city from having to spend $5-million in additional costs related to mitigating risk and to ensure we maintain the same service level to our community after EMS dispatch is removed.”

READ MORE: Council opts to pay for EMS dispatch in Lethbridge

READ MORE: Province consolidating 911 EMS dispatch services, impacting Lethbridge

The rationale from AHS was that consolidation would save over $6-million annually. According to the mayors, however, it is actually costing more.

In Lethbridge, for example, firefighters are dually trained as paramedics and consolidation has resulted in a loss of efficiency. As well, local officials say much of the cost has been simply downloaded from the province to the municipalities.

Another concern is that the system could result in longer ambulance response times.

READ MORE: Alberta mayors plea to save local 911 EMS dispatch as consolidation starts Jan. 12

Despite the mayors’ best efforts, 911 EMS dispatch consolidation went ahead of January 12, 2021.

There are no more regular city council meetings scheduled before the 2021 municipal elections, so Monday’s meeting was the last opportunity for the current council to do anything about it.