April 1, 2010
(Red Deer, Alberta) – City administration is putting forward a recommendation to Council to transition, in a phased approach, to the regional service model funded by Alberta Health Services (AHS).
On April 1, 2009 AHS took over governance, funding and administration of ambulance service in the province. As a result, the City entered into a two year contract with AHS. The contract requires The City of Red Deer to supply AHS’ determined number of ambulances in Red Deer which is five front line ambulance units and crews.
“The City wants to take the opportunity to proactively move towards the contracted model stipulated by AHS. We see this as an opportunity to move in a gradual, phased way,” said Jack MacDonald, Emergency Services Manager. “This will be a controlled transition that will allow us to monitor and report on the reality and our experience in supplying the contracted five ambulances. This evaluation period will be useful for The City, AHS and the community.”
"This is a responsible and thoughtful approach," says Brenda Fischer, Senior Vice President with EMS, Alberta Health Services. "While the number of times Red Deer Emergency Services fully utilizes all ambulances is relatively low, we recognize that there are peak times that must be considered. We will work closely with Red Deer Emergency Services to ensure appropriate ambulance resources are available at all times."
The AHS model for ambulance service delivery is regional in nature and it is expected that resources from neighbouring municipalities would support ambulance requirements in Red Deer when and if the resource of five ambulances is exceeded. Resources from Red Deer would provide that same regional support to other municipalities when and if needed.
“Red Deer’s ambulance dispatch service is scheduled to be transferred to Calgary,” noted Paul Goranson, Director of Development Services. “When this happens the transition to five ambulances would happen immediately. This transition period provides us the opportunity to work together with AHS to smoothly transition to the contracted model.”
During the transition, Emergency Services will continue its practice of co-responding with a fire engine. These engines are crewed with the same emergency medical personnel used in our ambulances.
Based on 2009 data, the AHS model of using five ambulances in Red Deer covers approximately 97 per cent of all ambulance requirements. Currently the remaining three per cent are covered by an additional four ambulance resources being dispatched by The City without provincial compensation. Through this transition plan, those additional resources will be phased out and the additional three per cent of calls will be covered by regional resources as per the AHS contract.
The phased transition plan is recommended to begin in April 2010 with a full implementation by August 2010.
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For more information, please contact:
Jack MacDonald Paul Goranson
Emergency Services Manager Development Service Director
The City of Red Deer The City of Red Deer
403-356-2455 403-342-8162
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