Alberta Health Services (AHS) has announced $8.3 million in funding to maintain 100 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) positions as a way to “stabilize staffing as high EMS call volume continues,” according to an AHS press release.
The release states the funding will be used to transition 70 casual EMS positions to temporary, full-time positions as well as continue with 30 full-time positions that were hired temporarily in Calgary and Edmonton back in 2019.
“This will allow EMS to hire new casual staff and to return to using [their] casual positions for their intended purpose, such as providing short term and temporary relief for paramedics who are off on sick time or taking vacation time,” said Darren Sandbeck, Chief Paramedic and Senior Provincial Director, AHS EMS, via the release.
AHS’ communications staff confirmed the 100 individuals impacted by this funding will be existing EMS personnel, not new hires.
According to the press release announcing the funding, there has been an increase in calls to 911 over the last several months. Projected causes include the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfire smoke, heat-related events, and general emergency calls as pre-pandemic activities begin again.
Prior to the pandemic, there were approximately 1,095 calls made to 911 every day. At this time, EMS receives an average of 1,521 calls per day.
“This funding helps us keep paramedic numbers stable so we can continue to respond to emergencies,” stated Sandbeck in the written release. “We also continue to work with our Emergency Department partners and the Government of Alberta on new strategies to shorten the time it takes to transfer care from an ambulance to the appropriate hospital department so that paramedics can return to service sooner,”
The funding announcement comes as town halls were recently held throughout Alberta to discuss the issue of ambulance service and EMS availability, including one in Cochrane on Aug. 10 and in Airdrie on Aug. 13. Don Sharpe, who has worked as a registered paramedic for more than 40 years, spearheaded the tour, which also included town halls in Strathmore, Okotoks and Vulcan. He said there are also plans to host events in Nanton, Claresholm, Banff and Canmore.
The goal of the town halls is to bring awareness and encourage discussion about the issue among locals, paramedics, former patients and industry professionals, according to Sharpe, who stressed the town halls are not affiliated with AHS or the union that represents paramedics.
“It’s not going to solve the problem,” Sharpe claimed in regard to the recent funding announcement from AHS. “The problem is, we don’t even know how many ambulances we need because we’re not properly managing the ones we have.”
Sharpe went on to say EMS personnel are being forced to wait in hospital hallways with patients when dropping them off, ultimately slowing down response times and limiting the number of ambulances in a place at any given time.
He added rural ambulances are often pulled into larger urban centres when the city’s units are busy, leaving the outskirt communities with no coverage whatsoever.
“Who ever said that Airdrie’s job was to move into the city every time the city didn’t have any coverage?” he said, adding this “Code Red” scenario occurs in numerous areas in the province, including Okotoks, Claresholm and High River.
Additionally, Sharpe said rural ambulances are being required to do non-emergency transfers into the city, thereby taking them away from any local incidences that may require their response.
On the flip side, he said there are individuals missing their appointments in the city because the patient is scheduled to be transferred by an ambulance that ends up being pulled away from the area, leaving both the patient and specialist in limbo.
“That’s abhorrent. That’s very upsetting to me. Patients aren’t being served,” Sharpe said. “And that’s got nothing to do with [$8.3 million] moving part-time people to full-time.”
Sharpe did add the ability for casual employees to relieve full-time employees is much needed, explaining that nearly one-third of the EMS workforce is off due to mental and physical health issues stemming from over-exertion.
“So, the funding is beneficial in that way, but [it is] proclaiming to be more of a solution to the problem than it truly is,” Sharpe said.
When asked for comment additional to the press release, the Airdrie City View was relayed a comment from Sandbeck which stated, “EMS is very pleased to have received funding from AHS for these 100 positions across Alberta. This funding will help stabilize EMS’ staffing picture over the coming months as high system demand continues.”
