An ambulance outside Medicine Hat Regional Hospital (photo courtesy Derek Brade)

By Teagan Rasche

Code red

Ambulance shortage an ongoing issue in Medicine Hat

Jan 7, 2022 | 4:58 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Sirens are the sound of help on the way but you could be waiting an hour for it if it’s even available.

In the last two and a half weeks, emergency medical services in the Medicine Hat area have been on red alert five times. According to the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, it happened as recently as Thursday night.

“Code red is defined by any emergency service as no available resources,” Mike Parker, president of HSAA, the union representing Alberta’s paramedics said.

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He calls the code reds and long wait times a “province-wide issue”

“For the last 10 years, we have seen steady population growth in this province, call volume increase in this province and in that 10 year time, we have zero improvements in the resource levels of our paramedics on the streets, no extra boots on the ground,” Parker said.

Courtesy: HSAAlbertaEMS/Twitter

The situation is only getting more dire.

In a statement, Alberta Health Services says “EMS continues to see an unprecedented increase in emergency calls, particularly during the cold weather snap that has been experienced in recent days of up to 30%.”

The statement continues by saying “Anyone who needs EMS care will receive it,” meaning ambulances will arrive from other cities but it comes with a long wait.

This issue has the attention of Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Frey, who says we need to make sure services are there when we need them.

“I’ve heard a great deal from constituents about the current ambulance shortages that we are having and the code reds that are happening within our province,” Frey said. “I have been doing absolutely everything that I can. I spoke to Minister Copping’s staff today and this is one of his top issues right now, the capacity in our health care system to respond to crisis.”

A solution to the crisis is complex.

AHS says it is filling paramedic positions, deploying supervisors and delaying some non-urgent transfers but becoming a paramedic in the first place takes years.

“These folks require extensive training and now we find ourselves after 10 years of not resourcing us properly, this crisis level we’re facing today, we require massive investment to make up for the last 10 years,” Parker said.

While that doesn’t seem to be an immediate solution to the issue, both Parker and Frey say they will keep advocating for changes.