Alberta Health Services said Tuesday its emergency medical services were in a red alert state five times between Thursday and Sunday in the Calgary zone:
Thursday
- 12:39 – 2 min
- 12:50 – 3 min
- 13:08 – 2 min
Sunday
- 19:49 – 1 min
- 19:54 – 2 min
A red alert or “code red” refers to times when there aren’t any ambulances available to respond to calls. AHS said the red alert system is a planning tool used to help EMS shift resources around e.g. if patient transfers could be temporarily cancelled or resources could be called in from outside of a certain region.
During the red alerts, AHS said there were no emergency calls pending and no delays.
“Even when a red alert is triggered, EMS still responds to emergencies to provide patient care,” Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic at Alberta Health Services, said in a release.
READ MORE: AHS sets new 12 minute ambulance response time targets
According to data obtained by two freedom of information (FOIP) requests, the city of Calgary experienced a code red alert 60 times in 2014. In Edmonton, where code reds are tracked by the minute, the Alberta Health Services data indicates the city spent an accumulated 13 hours in a state where there were no ambulances available to respond to emergency calls.
Paramedics have previously spoken out about the issue, sounding the alarm over increasing response times.
READ MORE: Code Red – FOIP requests reveal Alberta code red alerts on the rise