CALGARY – Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann says the province needs to do more to ease pressure on Alberta ambulance services. In a news release Friday, Swann a said social media campaign by a group of anonymous paramedics highlight problems related to repeated “Red Alerts.”
READ MORE: Anonymous paramedics tweet when no ambulances are available in Alberta
“The situation is so critical that EMS staff are risking their jobs by going public to raise awareness about the dire problems in the system,” he said in the release.
A code red alert is called when there are no ambulances available for dispatch.
Using the Twitter handle @StatusCodeRed a group of Alberta paramedics and EMTs have been sharing information related to code red alerts. The same group has also created a Facebook group called, “Alberta EMS Code Red,” which invites those on the front lines to participate in the campaign.
On Friday evening, the Twitter account had just over 1,900 followers and the Facebook group had more than 3,250 “likes.”
READ MORE: Code Red Part 1 – Paramedics warn of lengthening response times
Alberta Health Services has questioned the accuracy of some of the group’s tweets, and previously responded to the social media campaign in a written statement.
“The term ‘red alert’ is used to refer to a point in time when all transport ambulances in a geographical area are busy helping patients,” said AHS EMS Chief Paramedic Darren Sandbeck in the statement. “These situations are usually over within seconds or minutes and EMS will always respond to emergencies by repositioning units from other communities, deferring non-urgent transfers, deploying supervisors or using single paramedic response units to provide care until an ambulance is available for transport. We know some front line staff are frustrated with system pressures. Leadership, across Alberta Health Services, is listening to concerns and working with staff to help find ways to improve our ability to provide high quality care to patients, when and where they need it.”
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