(rdnewsNOW/Troy Gillard)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

FINAL DECISION

Shandro proceeds with EMS dispatch consolidation despite mayors’ pleas

Oct 16, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Alberta’s health minister says the province is moving ahead with EMS dispatch consolidation despite an impassioned plea by four Alberta mayors to reverse course.

Tyler Shandro informed the mayors of Red Deer, Calgary, Lethbridge and Wood Buffalo – the four municipalities that still handle their own dispatch – of his decision in a letter on Friday.

Dispatch in those will now be moved to Alberta Health Services centres in Calgary, Edmonton and Peace River, a move that was announced in August. EMS dispatch in the rest of the province was switched to AHS in 2009.

“My decision is not to overturn AHS’s decision,” Shandro wrote. “This decision is not ‘an unknown,’ it’s the best practice and the standard practice in Alberta, in most other provinces, and in other countries whose health systems are most like ours.”

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Shandro stated his expectation that the mayors will support a seamless transition now that he’s made up his mind.

“We’ve paid four cities to dispatch ambulances for 11 years now. Ten or 20 years ago, before CAD, there may have been real advantages to having dispatchers sit in a room together; there may have been good reasons for cities to fight to keep EMS dispatch. But there’s just no reason to keep doing it other than protecting the status quo.”

Shandro says the province will save $9 million from these contracts that can be invested in improving service, as opposed to “redundant dispatch.”

Four other Alberta health ministers had previously overturned calls for EMS dispatch in the four municipalities to be consolidated.

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer, Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi, Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman and Don Scott of Wood Buffalo issued a joint statement Friday blasting Shandro’s decision.

“We are strongly opposed to this Friday afternoon announcement by Minister Shandro, conveniently delivered just as the first major winter storm blows into Alberta. His letter contains many inaccuracies and we will address these, together, early next week.”

The City of Red Deer says that under the existing integrated dispatch model, a fire unit capable of providing life-saving care is first to arrive at an emergency 40 per cent of time. They contend that under a consolidated system, response times will be slower.

The NDP Opposition says Shandro and Premier Jason Kenney have refused to look at the evidence.

“There’s a real chance these changes will make service levels worse in these communities,” says David Shepherd, NDP Health Critic. “Jason Kenney is rolling the dice with Albertans’ lives to pay for his $4.7 billion corporate handout.”

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