EMS gets much needed boost

By Gillian Slade on December 8, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com @MHNGillianSlade

Another ambulance for Medicine Hat plus a crew of eight to man it 24/7 was announced by the minister of health on Friday.

“Like all communities there has been an increase in volume, and through our analysis of the province it’s been one of the largest increases and required an additional ambulance to be able to accommodate that,” said Dale Weiss, executive director of EMS operations for Alberta.

There were also concerns about the additional time it was taking to respond to emergency calls as a result of the increased volumes, said Weiss.

The additional eight EMS staff were hired in October.

EMS Medicine Hat has 36 full-time staff. The additional eight will bring the total to 44. Also this fall an additional five paramedics were hired for the community paramedic service in Medicine Hat, said Weiss.

Community paramedics provide medical attention to seniors in supportive living or long-term care residences, in many cases avoiding a trip to hospital.

It is not easy to determine the reason for the increased volume of EMS calls when there has been no increase in local population, said Weiss. It is not necessarily related to the high population of seniors.

Medicine Hat falls into the category of a community handling a fairly high volume of patients needing to be transferred to other health-care facilities such as Calgary.

“Transfer service across the province has been growing as well to get to specialists and tests,” said Weiss.

Monthly EMS activity is posted online providing data by month from May 2016 to October 2018. The number of emergency events responded to has been hovering between 400 and about 500 per month.

The number of non-emergency events handled by EMS has been as low as about 320 per month, in February 2017, to slightly more than 500 in December 2017.

When it comes to EMS transfers, which include transfers to Calgary but not those made by air ambulance, there were a low of about 700 in February 2017 and some months when it was close to 1,000 in late 2017. In 2018, the number has generally hovered between 800 and 1,000.

EMS response times in Medicine Hat have been fairly consistent at about seven minutes, according to the same website. These times are for response to a life-threatening 911 call.

“Albertans want to know that they and their loved ones will be taken care of if they face a medical emergency,” Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman said. “That’s why our government is taking action to strengthen emergency services and support frontline EMS workers.

“With more ambulances on the road and more paramedics ready to respond, Albertans will have improved access to emergency medical care when it matters.”

Hoffman also announced five more ambulances for Edmonton, 10 for Calgary and one for Grand Prairie.

Edmonton will get another 28 EMS staff, Calgary 30, Grande Prairie eight, Sylvan Lake four, Vilna four, St. Paul four, and Westlock four in addition to the eight for Medicine Hat.

The EMS budget for 2018/19 is $524 million representing a $29-million increase over 2017, according to government documents.

Calgary and Edmonton are each getting eight emergency liaison officers to improve the transfer of care of patients from EMS workers to the emergency department. There is also the appointment of a psychologist to provide mental health support for EMS workers.

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/ems/page12563.aspx

Click on “Medicine Hat” under “EMS wait time reporting” on the right, to see the charts referred to above.