Issues over the centralization of ambulance dispatch services has caused communities throughout the province to voice their displeasure.
Cold Lake, along with the cities of Lethbridge, Red Deer and the county of Wood Buffalo have been vocal in letting the province know they are not happy with the current services.
According to Brian McEvoy, Chief of the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority, the same problems are happening in Bonnyville.
“There are issues related to dispatch that are a result of the centralizing of EMS dispatching. We are currently working through a lot of those issues with Alberta Health Services (AHS),” said McEvoy.
The biggest issue Bonnyville is having with its EMS services revolves around the arrival times in co-response events, where multiple emergency services – police, fire, EMS, and MD public safety – are called to respond to an emergency.
“EMS used to arrive first to co-response scenes probably 95 per cent of the time,” said McEvoy. “Now we are finding that fire is arriving to these emergency scenes probably 80 per cent of the time in the first position, which is increasing the need for fire personnel to provide medical first response until the ambulances arrive.”
McEvoy says the problem with the arrival times is due to the new centralized dispatching services. Which, at the moment, is causing EMS services to receive an emergency call later than the rest of the services.
“What is happening is we process the 9-1-1 call, we pass it off to Edmonton, who then finish the processing and then dispatches the ambulance. At the same time Edmonton starts processing the call, we are dispatching fire and police,” said McEvoy.
McEvoy was clear in saying that the problems have nothing to do with the response time of the local EMS staff, feeling that it is as good as it has even been.
“Our EMS staff here are responding and reacting to the dispatches as fast or faster than they ever have,” said McEvoy. “The delay is in the passing of the call from our centre to Edmonton and then the processing in Edmonton to get the dispatch back to the ambulances.”
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne was questioned about the “kinks” in the new dispatch system earlier in the month by Bonnyville Cold Lake MLA Genia Leskiw. Horne said he understands there are problems that need to be worked out.
“Today, 95 per cent of ambulance calls are dispatched from one of the consolidated dispatch centres, and 85 per cent of ambulance resources are coordinated on a provincial basis,” said Horne in a statement released on Nov. 26. “While much has been achieved, there is still work to be done.
“Recently, I met with mayors and other elected representatives from municipalities, including many who operate integrated services (fire and ambulance), which have served citizens well for many years.”
Horne continued, “Some continue to express concern about consolidation of dispatch services with AHS. We agreed that working groups involving senior officials from the municipalities, Alberta Health and AHS would be immediately formed to work through the remaining issues and propose options that will preserve the best of integrated services and still ensure that the closest, most appropriate EMS resource is dispatched to every Albertan in need, regardless of where they live.”
If the province chooses to decentralize the dispatch services and go back to the previous way of operating, McEvoy says Bonnyville would be ready and able to handle the duties.
For now though, he said the BRFA is just trying to provide the services needed.
“We are doing the best we can to continue to provide a very high level of EMS service to everybody that we serve,” said McEvoy.
Meanwhile, the government and other officials involved with the dispatch will continue to work together to solve the current issues.
“I want to reiterate our commitment to work in partnership with municipalities going forward to promote continuing quality improvement in ground ambulance services going forward,” said Horne. “Regular dialogue and openness and transparency regarding the performance of the system are critical to success. To this end, government will work with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties and other stakeholders to establish a provincial ground ambulance services forum. This group will meet quarterly with Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services to review and analyze response time data and other quality indicators, and discuss options to improve service delivery and coordination.”
