BONNYVILLE - A planned move of Bonnyville-area EMS services into a new building would increase wait times for some Town of Bonnyville calls involving life-threatening emergencies, according to Alberta Health Services.
In October 2020, the Town and MD of Bonnyville along with the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) announced the BRFA Station 5, administration, EMS and 911 dispatch centre would be centralized into 46213 Township Rd. 612, also known as the Kopala building. At that time, the MD council passed a motion to purchase the land and building for $3.2 million.
The MD had expected to take possession of the building by mid-November last year, and work was supposed to begin on the facility shortly after, with a planned move-in date of Autumn 2021.
But minutes of a June 21, 2021 meeting between Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the BRFA board show the health authority raised concerns that the move would add up to four minutes to 911 response times within the Town of Bonnyville.
"AHS does not support this change as that is where the majority of calls for the BRFA occur and will have negative outcomes on patient care. Especially in circumstances of urgent Delta or Echo Events," the minutes stated. Delta and Echo events refer to life-threatening emergencies.
The minutes also noted that provincial benchmarks for response times wouldn't be met for Bonnyville if the move went forward.
MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk told Lakeland Today that AHS was looking at emergencies that take place near the hospital. There is also extended care and seniors residences in that area.
"That's where those time-sensitive calls happen. So knowing that now, it started our administration to ask more questions about this," Sawchuk said.
"As it turns out, there were more pieces of the puzzle that were missing."
Sawchuk said there are several administrative problems that need to be fixed before the move can proceed. He said there is no existing 911 agreement in place, and the fire authority has failed to produce a 911 business plan as well.
According to the minutes of the meeting with AHS, the BRFA felt the new location would provide better efficiencies for EMS, fire and dispatch, and would be more cost-effective.
