Record year for emergency calls in Saskatoon

This has been another record-breaking year for medical emergencies in Saskatoon.

With Saskatoon paramedics responding to more than 42,000 emergency calls in 2024, the increase comes as no surprise to paramedics.

“We’ve seen another increase for our paramedics responding again and in this last year. And that’s something that we’ve been trending upward for probably the last 10 years. So it’s no real surprise,” said Troy Davies, director of public affairs for Medavie Health Services West.

“What’s good is that it’s kind of plateaued a little bit, I think roughly 63 more responses over last year where after COVID, we’ve seen significant numbers increase for us.”

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Davies says the data can be misleading, noting that Saskatchewan’s community paramedic program also responded to calls that would have otherwise gone to Medavie.

“Their numbers doubled to over 8,000 calls. So, 10 years ago, those 8,000 calls would have fallen on departments in our emergency response vehicles. But due to the fact that we have this separate, I guess, different way of treating patients, it’s definitely impacted their numbers.”

The Saskatchewan Health Authority tells Global News it doesn’t have this year’s numbers yet, but is seeing year-over-year increases in the Regina area as well.

Davies says working directly with health authorities is an advantage.

“What a lot of other major cities don’t have, (and) we’re lucky to have, is direct connection with the health authority and the Ministry of Health almost on a daily basis. So we continue to work together with our data and working on responding to calls, what makes sense, what doesn’t, and what can we do outside of the ERs.”

The number of incidents where paramedics make use of Narcan for overdose-related emergencies has gone down in 2024.

Davies attributes the decline to the efforts of many community stakeholders but notes the number of drug-related health emergencies is actually increasing.

The data reflects instances where paramedics themselves have used Narcan, not those where Narcan was used before their arrival at the scene.