By Leah Murray

Medical first response doesn’t address larger issue: EMS union

Mar 2, 2017 | 4:59 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The union which represents paramedics in Alberta said having firefighters do medical first response is putting a Band-Aid on a much bigger problem.

The City of Medicine Hat is proposing fire crews help respond to the most serious health related emergency calls, including heart attacks and serious injuries and collisions.

This is being done to help improve response times to those types of incidents.

But the Health Sciences Association of Alberta is saying the issues are bigger than response times, say it’s a matter of staffing and resources.

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The union believes there aren’t enough paramedics and EMS personnel in the province.

According to HSAA officials, many paramedics are having to put in overtime just to keep up proper staffing levels.

Since Alberta Health Services took over the management of EMS in 2005, the union said the government hasn’t kept up with growth, leaving Albertans at risk.

Although the government is looking at a $10.8 billion deficit, union president Mike Parker said they need to do more to fund front line paramedic services.

“Either we don’t address the issues, or we find some additional funding through deficit and we get those resources on the street,” said Parker. “A 911 call can’t sit waiting for paramedics for the [price of] oil to adjust.”

There are 36 full time paramedics, and 35 to 40 part time EMS staff in Medicine Hat.

Usually there are six ambulances staffed during the day and three at night, though during busy times, as many as eight can be staffed.

The Associate Executive Director for EMS operations in the South Zone said there are still times where code reds happen. A code red occurs when there are no ambulances available to respond to calls.

Pasich was unable to provide any information on how often a code red is called in Medicine Hat, but said at this time he doesn’t see a need for extra EMS staff in the city.

“I would say there’s enough resources in Medicine Hat to manage the events in [this city] for paramedics,” said Pasich “We look at our data on an ongoing basis to evaluate the number of resources we have and our responses to those events.”

Pasich added having firefighters help with medical first response doesn’t eliminate the need for EMS.

As for whether the government will increase funding for more front line paramedics, Pasich says they won’t know until the province releases it’s budget March 15th.