(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

regional municipality takes drastic step

Veer says all options being considered after Wood Buffalo takes back local EMS dispatch

Feb 10, 2021 | 4:52 PM

Red Deer’s mayor says the city will continue looking at its options regarding ambulance dispatch in the community.

Following a unanimous vote Tuesday by council for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) to no longer transfer 911 calls to the Alberta Health Services (AHS) Provincial Dispatch Centre, Tara Veer says such a move may not be possible in Red Deer.

“Preliminary discussions with our chief today indicate that it may not be possible to locally implement that strategy because AHS has actually removed the dispatching equipment from our local centre,” Veer explained. “The City of Red Deer no longer has the dispatching computers, monitors and radios that we previously had. Having said that, though, we continue to dispute this issue on principle and we continue to call on the government to pause consolidation because of the technical delays in transfers.”

It was on Jan.19 when locally-operated integrated dispatch services in Red Deer, Calgary, Lethbridge and Wood Buffalo were consolidated with AHS Provincial Dispatch Centres in Peace River, Edmonton, and Calgary despite months of protest from the affected municipalities.

Don Scott, Mayor for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said Wednesday that there are circumstances when acts of defiance and resistance are absolutely necessary.

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“When decisions are made by a level of government that put the health of our residents at risk in this region, then that’s one of them. We need to resist and defy that decision and that’s exactly what my council did last night,” he explained.

“This should come as no surprise to AHS. We have been telling them for seven months that if they went through with the transition they had proposed, that there would be a reduction in service that would put our resident’s health at risk.”

Scott said that’s exactly what’s happened after just a few weeks of the new system in place, which he deemed completely unacceptable.

“We’ve repeatedly provided the facts and when we’ve provided the facts, we were met with tunnel vision,” remarked Scott. “We talked to the Minister of Health, we sent letters to the premier, we’ve engaged in every way that we know possible and we have been met with total resistance.”

“I want to be very clear that this was an operational decision,” added Regional Fire Chief Jody Butz. “We’ve exhausted every avenue in the political arena, and now, this is truly about the safety of our residents in our region.”

In Red Deer, Mayor Veer says any and all options will continue to be on the table to mitigate risk to local patients.

“Specific to the Wood Buffalo proposal, our chief will be reviewing it this week and if he has any similar recommendations for our council, then he will be bringing that to council,” says Veer.

“The routing of calls is one solution but we have formally proposed multiple operational measures to mitigate risks for our patients and those requests of the Minister of Health remain unanswered, so we will continue to push on those tactics as well.”

Veer says the city’s offer to the premier’s office for Red Deer to pay for its own dispatch service still stands.

“Our letter of summary on risk mitigation for local patients has been unanswered, and we’ve also provided a technical briefing to the premier, Minister of Health and all members of the government caucus on the significant dispatching errors and delays that we’ve experienced since consolidation and the potential impacts that’s had for patients. That technical briefing remains unanswered as well.”

“Last night we made what I consider-to-be a strong decision and we stand by it,” concluded Mayor Scott. “I challenge the provincial government to remove me as the mayor. I believe it’s completely justified and I strand by it completely, no matter the political consequences.”