Local fire & EMS officials weary of changes to provincial dispatch services

Local officials are prepared but disappointed with incoming changes to Alberta’s ambulance dispatch services.

A new report by the Health Quality Council released Monday recommends dispatch be consolidated across the province.

Lethbridge has operated as an integrated fire and ambulance service for the city and 25 neighbouring communities for more than 100 years and it’s something many don’t want to see changed.

Public Safety Communications Centre Manager with the City of Lethbridge, Chris Kearns, tells Global News he’s worried the changes may have a direct impact on front line services.

“There’s a lot to be said for multiple response dispatch. When someone calls 911 we can take their information down and at the same time we’re on the phone with them, dispatch fire, police and ambulance. That means a lot to our citizens, it’s a much faster response. This new model is not going to work as well as response to this,” he adds.

Fire Chief Brian Cornforth is concerned the report does not address the impact consolidating dispatches across the province could have on integrated fire and EMS services.

“We have a high uncertainty as to what that means for us moving forward…it’s going to create a lot of challenges for us operationally and municipality wise,” he adds.

Lethbridge’s dispatch centre handles roughly 50, 000 emergency calls a year and the volume isn’t expected to decrease as a result of the changes.

Local officials have been anticipating the move and have been working to address communication gaps between dispatch systems.

“We’ve made technological changes so that we can interface with Alberta Health Services’ technology so we can work with them simultaneously,” Kearns says.

Cornforth says cooperation between dispatch centres is imperative to success.

“If not, we do risk information not being dispatched from one centre to another. We’ve built it, we’re ready to go, they’re just going to need to let us lower the draw bridge into their system,” he says.

The plan to implement changes is expected by the end of March.

Health Minister Fred Horne first commissioned a report from the Health Quality Council in March of 2012 after several AHS employees risk their jobs by speaking out about deficiencies in the industry.