Lacombe city councillor says Red Deer needs two more ambulances
A Lacombe city councillor is calling a ‘code red’ on ambulance service in central Alberta.
Chris Ross says ambulance response times in Lacombe are on the rise with a shortage of ambulances in Red Deer largely to blame.
He says Red Deer not only needs a cardiac catheterization lab at its hospital to help reduce the amount of ambulance transfers currently being done, but at least two more ambulances as well to address the concerns.
“The three outlying services of Guardian in Innisfail, Associated in Sylvan and Lacombe EMS are backing up Red Deer not only for Red Deer emergency calls but also for the significant number of cath-lab transfers that require to be taken to Edmonton or Calgary,” he explains. “This requires other units to be ‘flexed’ from Ponoka, Rimbey and even Bashaw to cover Lacombe when other emergency calls or transfers are required in Red Deer.”