By Canadian Press

Mayors of four Alberta cities frustrated by EMS dispatch services consolidation

Aug 5, 2020 | 5:03 PM

Mayors of four cities affected by a change to emergency medical dispatch services say they were blindsided by the move and believe it will put lives of their residents at risk.

Alberta announced Tuesday that it is consolidating all EMS dispatch call sites to save money and improve patient care.

The change will affect EMS 911 dispatch services in Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray.

Alberta Health Services has been running a dispatch system for the rest of the province since 2009.

It says the consolidation will allow the EMS system to send the nearest available ambulance to a patient regardless of geographic boundaries.

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Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer says she is frustrated to be revisiting the issue again after several previous governments rejected a similar change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 5, 2020.

The Canadian Press