Four Alberta mayors continue to sound the alarm on the province’s plans to consolidate EMS dispatch, which they say will lead to a decline in patient outcomes, with longer response times, meaning it’s a matter of life and death for some.
After months of pleading with the Alberta government to reconsider, the mayors of Lethbridge, Red Deer, Calgary and the Wood Buffalo region say their concerns have been met with indifference.
“Our municipalities have spent more than four months trying to work with the provincial government on this issue,” said Lethbridge Mayor Chris Spearman during a virtual conference on Monday.
“There has been no indication from Minister Shandro or this provincial government that they wish to work with the municipalities.
“Our appeal to Premier Kenney appears to have fallen of deaf ears,” he said.
Last month the mayors each offered to cover the costs of their own local dispatch services — a cost of $1.2 million a year in Lethbridge.
However, the mayor says they’ve received no response from Health Minister Tyler Shandro on their proposal.
Spearman says it’s been a frustrating process trying to reason with a provincial government that hasn’t shown a desire to hear their concerns.
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“I’m very concerned about the reaction of this government and their willingness to work with municipalities, but I’m hoping Minister McIver will be an advocate for us,” Spearman said.
“He was opposed to ambulance dispatch consolidation previously and I hope his views have not changed.”
Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer says that city is prepared to continue fighting against the consolidation.
“Certainly we will be aggressively pursuing transition challenges and trying to mitigate those transition challenges, if indeed they do decide to end integration in the province of Alberta tomorrow morning,” Veer said.
Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips also expressed concern and disagreement over the changes on Monday.
“What we have seen in recent weeks is Jason Kenney and the UCP moving forward with a plan to introduce more chaos into our health-care system at a time we can least afford it,” Phillips said.
“This is creating an element of uncertainty in our health-care system and in our emergency response… when health-care workers are already stretched to the limit.”
In a statement to Global News on Monday, the health ministry said integration will align the four cities with Alberta’s best practices and serve patients better, but did not provide specifics.
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