Counties agree dispatch plan needed to be halted
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Alberta’s new health minister made the right move by taking a step back to review whether the province’s centralization of ambulance services was meeting its goals, said the reeve for Mountain View County.
“I think it’s a good response from the minister,” said Al Kemmere, who just returned from the annual Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties conference in Edmonton.
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky told rural politicians Tuesday he would freeze the plan to centralize local dispatch centres in Edmonton, Calgary and Grimshaw, in northwestern Alberta, as a plan to improve efficiency. Zwozdesky said none of the changes made so far would be reversed.
Rural municipalities had raised concerns about the project, which some feared would leave dispatchers with no familiarity of an area in charge of getting ambulances out to emergencies as quickly as possible.
“They often have no understanding of the area they are dispatching into,” said Kemmere. Municipalities had no doubt dispatchers were doing their best, but their lack of local knowledge made it hard for them to make route adjustments quickly.
Lacombe County Reeve Terry Engen said the ambulance issue was a hot topic for some northwestern Alberta communities, which were the first to get a taste of centralized dispatch.
Eventually, all of the province’s 35 dispatch centres were to be reduced to three.
“Certainly, some of the municipalities in northern Alberta have seen the transition and thought, ‘Oops, it’s not quite as well thought out as it seemed originally,’” Engen said.
“They’ve experienced some difficulties with it.”
Zwozdesky’s apparent commitment to get it right was well received by those communities.
“I think he’s willing to take a second look at it and ensure that all the fundamentals are in place before moving forward.”
In Red Deer, ambulance dispatch was expected to be shifted to Calgary later this year.
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
