‘We need to do better’: Sherwood Park ambulance service nearing tipping point

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There were two emergencies happening at the same time.

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Many Sherwood Park residents have likely heard of Pedestrian collision on Crimson Drive last week where two Lakeland Ridge students were struck by a car on November 3 and transported to hospital in serious but stable condition.

However, many are likely unaware that at the time of the accident there were no ambulances available in Sherwood Park to respond. Instead, the Park’s three ambulances were dealing with emergencies in Edmonton.

“The Strathcona County Professional Firefighters / Paramedics Association is extremely concerned about the degradation of ambulance service to our community,” said President Andrew Spence. News. “Our crews deal with the psychological stress of not being able to serve our own community with ambulances due to major problems in Alberta.”

The problem reappeared early Saturday morning, when a ” Red alert ” was declared due to the lack of ambulances in the Edmonton suburb.

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Ward 2 Coun. Dave Anderson, who represents the area where the Crimson Drive collision occurred, said he has raised the issue numerous times.

“We offer a team of three people in each of our ambulances, which is a service far superior to that of the rest of the region. The fact that we had two young children who had to wait for an ambulance for intensive care and transportation to arrive is deplorable. We need to do better, “Anderson said. News .

In early September, Fire Chief Jeff Hutton briefed the previous council that Strathcona County Emergency Services (SCES) faced “systemic pressures” related to the EMS system. At that time, the volume of calls was increasing both within and outside the county, averaging from 20 calls a day to 30 to 35 a day.

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The county is subject to an Alberta health services contract dating back to 2009, in which it must provide assistance to neighboring municipalities; all four county ambulances are affected (including the one based in Josephburg).

The contract will expire on March 31, 2023.

“The AHS contract has to be reviewed and scrapped or at least renegotiated,” noted the District 2 councilor. “The obvious inequity to our residents as taxpayers is dire and it is only a matter of time before we have a loss of income. lives as a result. “

More than 18 minutes for a county ambulance to respond to the park incident

SCES fire trucks, which are manned by cross-trained firefighter-paramedics, were the first to arrive at the scene of the November 3 incident, seven minutes and 43 seconds after the 9-1-1 call.

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The ambulance sent from Station 4 near Josephburg took 18 minutes and 35 seconds to arrive. Shortly after, a second ambulance arrived from Fort Saskatchewan.

“Fire departments are designed with stations optimally located in the community to serve the community. Ideally, our ambulances can also respond from these same community locations. This is not always the case in a regional system, ”Hutton explained.

“When our ambulances cannot be the first to arrive on the scene within Strathcona County, we rely on our fire trucks to deliver a Medical First Response (MFR), which will be dispatched to ensure our citizens receive timely care. Unfortunately, we find ourselves filling this gap more frequently in 2020 and 2021, ”added the fire marshal.

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In response, the association president said that it is great to have cross-trained staff, but that does not solve the problem of transporting patients to the hospital.

Local ambulances out of county 50 percent of the time in 2021

Historically, ambulance crews spent about 20 percent of their time serving outside of Strathcona County, but in 2021, local ambulances will spend about 50 percent of their time in other municipalities.

“We are also used to seeing that 80 percent of calls from Strathcona County residents are handled by SCES. In 2021, SCES responded to approximately 70 percent of our citizens’ calls, ”said Hutton.

While wishing for a speedy recovery for those affected by last week’s accident, Mayor Rod Frank said he also shares concerns about the increase in county ambulances being sent out of the community.

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“Currently, we are working to find solutions to this problem with AHS, and will also address it as a priority issue in our negotiations with AHS when the current agreement expires in 2023,” the Mayor said. “This is not a problem unique to Strathcona County. We anticipate discussions on this topic at upcoming RMA and AUMA conventions. If there is a collaborative avenue to resolve these issues with AHS, Strathcona County will step up and be a partner in such discussions. ”

According to the local union, the Alberta Health Sciences Association (HSAA EMS), October 19 was another time when the park’s three ambulances were responding to emergencies in Edmonton.

In an October news release, the HSAA said EMS services are being extended beyond its limits and called for a change to AHS.

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“Anyone looking to be a leader must come up with a plan to address the shortage of paramedics available to respond when sick and injured Albertans need them,” said HSAA President and Advanced Care Paramedic Mike Parker. “The cost of continued inaction is measured in lives.”

‘The fact that we could not respond is worrying’

However, having all three ambulances responding outside of the community is an everyday occurrence, Spence confirmed.

“Especially at the beginning and end of the day, we cover all ambulance shift changes in the city. They don’t want to get stuck overtime, so the contract ends up doing all the responses between 4pm and 6pm. Then our teams are stuck at work for an extra hour on most shifts, “said the president. from the local paramedic association.

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Ward 4 Coun. Bill Tonita said something has to give.

“Much more often than we would like to see, our ambulances are serving the greater region and are not available in Sherwood Park. When you see something like this happen, it is a real flag for us because we never want that to happen, ”said Tonita. “The fact that we had beaten two children, in itself, is a horrible tragedy, but the fact that we were unable to respond is unsettling.”

Meanwhile, local paramedics say regional pressures are affecting their mental well-being and job satisfaction.

“We wear a uniform that represents the protection of our community. It is extremely frustrating when we know that there is no ambulance in our community; we also live and raise our families here, ”said Spencer.

When asked how safe Strathcona County residents should be in a successful contract renegotiation with AHS, the fire marshal said; “There is no question that it will be a difficult task, but I know that Strathcona County will look at all possible ways to influence a better result.”

—With Jonny Wakefield files

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