New provincial budget offers little relief to ongoing ambulance shortage

On January 5, 2022, Lethbridge has had three “red alerts,” meaning there were no available resources to respond to an incident or medical call.

There have been five instances so far this year where ambulances were dropped for a shift due to staff shortages.

Lethbridge ambulances also needed to respond to other towns and areas, including three calls to Calgary.

Kirk Heuser, Communications Officer, says, “this is only a fraction of actual events occurring. AHS does not track red alerts outside of Edmonton and Calgary.”

In Alberta’s new provincial budget, $64 million is being allocated to EMS services.

While it is an increase from the previous budget, long-time public health care advocate Palliser Friends of Medicare (PFM) is concerned.

“It’s a 12 percent increase and they needed a 30 percent increase to catch up with the staff shortages and extra ambulances they needed,” PFM chair Diane MacNaughton said. “It’s more money but it’s not enough money.”

Parker is worried the money won’t go to the front lines to improve services. He says retention and recruitment are the big issues right now.

“Just this week, we have 363 vacancies for paramedics in the province,” Parker said.

While the extra money in the budget helps, it might not be enough to stop code reds.

CHAT News Today reached out to Alberta Health on Tuesday for comment but didn’t hear back. However, AHS said in a statement in January that “Anyone who needs EMS care will receive it,” meaning ambulances will arrive from other cities but it could come with a long wait.

by CHAT News Today / Jerran Fisher

New provincial budget offers little relief to ongoing ambulance shortage

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