By Troy Gillard

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Province consolidating 911 EMS dispatch services, impacting Red Deer

Aug 4, 2020 | 12:19 PM

Alberta Health Services (AHS) is consolidating 911 dispatch services in the province with the goal of further improving patient care and fiscal efficiency.

Four municipally-run contracted satellite dispatch sites, located in Red Deer, Lethbridge, Calgary and Wood Buffalo will be transitioned into one of three existing EMS dispatch centres, AHS announced on Tuesday.

They say the transition only affects EMS 911 dispatch services and that all local municipal fire, police, and medical first response will continue to be dispatched by the local municipalities.

These four sites have been separate from the AHS EMS provincial dispatch system since 2009.

AHS Chief Paramedic Darren Sandbeck says this change will allow them to send the nearest-available ambulance to a patient, regardless of geographic boundaries.

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“You may hear comments in the coming days about this transition increasing response times or increasing the time to arrive at a patient’s side – this is not true. What is important to understand is this consolidation changes nothing with respect to the 911 call workflows that exist today.”

EMS 911 dispatch also has the ability to involve real-time physician consultation on emergency calls.

“The consolidation is the right decision for any Albertan needing emergency medical care,” said AHS President and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu. “This will improve care and ensure we are being fiscally responsible.”

The consolidation is one of the recommendations of last year’s Ernst and Young (EY) AHS review.

“The adoption of this recommendation from the EY AHS Review is a further evolution of Alberta’s promise to put patients first,” says Health Minister Tyler Shandro. “The provincial EMS dispatch system allows for better coordination of all EMS resources, including ground ambulances, and air resources, and reliable response times. EMS dispatch consolidation supports improved health integration and will facilitate broader health reforms.”

In a media release from AHS, they say this was “not primarily a financial decision”, but the consolidation of the four satellite dispatch centres will save over $6-million annually, primarily by eliminating the duplication of services.

The transition will take place over the next six months.

911 EMS calls will be handled out of Calgary, Edmonton, and Peace River.

“Callers to 911 will not notice any change,” states AHS.

An additional 25 Emergency Communications Officers will be hired at these three locations and current dispatch workers will be encouraged to apply.

UPDATE: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer, Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott, and Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman will host a joint virtual press conference Wednesday at 2 p.m. to express their disagreement with the changes they say will slow response times and introduce another step in the dispatching of EMS services to medical emergencies.

(With file from David Opinko at Lethbridge News Now)