Concerns about medical emergency services in Wheatland County

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

A Wheatland County mayor and fire chief expressed concerns over medical emergency service in rural areas in the county since Alberta Health Services took over ambulance dispatch.
Until about two years ago, all emergency services in Wheatland County were coordinated by WADEMSA (Wheatland and District Emergency Medical Services Association), and dispatched through a Strathmore call centre.
When a medical call came from a hamlet or rural area, the local fire department and ambulance were both dispatched. Firefighters, trained as first responders, typically arrive on scene first, providing initial care and a reassuring presence until ambulance personnel arrive.
“It was one of the better-run ambulance services in Alberta,” said Art Hudson, Rosebud fire chief.
In Rosebud, nearly half the firefighters are EMR-trained, he said. “We can be on scene for giving oxygen. We can be on scene for CPR. We have an automatic defibrillator. When we walk in (the stress of) the whole situation is dropped a level.”
About two years ago, Alberta Health Services (AHS) took over medical dispatch for the county.
“Alberta Health Services (AHS) has been given the responsibility of operating EMS, including EMS dispatch services in the province on behalf of the Government of Alberta. As part of its role, AHS EMS administers the Alberta Medical First Response (MFR) Program. Under this voluntary program, an MFR agency decides which EMS calls it will respond to,” AHS stated in an email, when asked to comment on medical emergency service issues in Wheatland County.
“Based on the predefined EMS call information provided to AHS by the relevant MFR agency, AHS EMS dispatch will request the MFR agency to respond to the EMS call. The EMS crew will then take over care of the patient upon arrival, providing patients with assessment (and) treatment, and transport to hospital as required.”
Under the new system, when someone in Wheatland County calls 911 from a landline, Strathmore dispatch receives the call. If the emergency is medical, the call is transferred to a Calgary call centre, which dispatches the nearest ambulance, which could be a local one or another ambulance returning from a call.
In hamlets and rural areas, local fire departments are also dispatched to medical emergencies.
If the 911 caller uses a cell phone, Hudson said, the call may be received at a Red Deer call centre, which then calls WADEMSA, contributing to delayed response times.
“We do have instances within the boundaries of this county,” said Darcy Burke, mayor of Rockyford, “when it has not been as efficient as it was when we had a local dispatch centre for ambulances.”
There were also medical emergencies when fire departments weren’t called. Hudson said he knows of several instances, including two this year.
“One incident was extremely critical,” Burke said. “We did have a patient who was having a heart attack. And there was a delay in the fire department being paged and a delay in the ambulance being paged.”
On both occasions this year, Hudson said, AHS blamed the dispatch company.
“There have been positive changes made with this central dispatch. It’s not all negative,” he said. “But we have been there long enough now that we should not be having the issue repeated.”
According to Burke, the patient care once the ambulance is on scene “is just fine. We have problems getting the ambulances paged to that scene. We have problems getting the firemen paged to that scene, for that initial medical attention. All that points right back to our 911 call centres.”
Burke discussed this issue with MLA Derek Fildebrandt, and asked him to contact Foothills Emergency Services, where the MLA has expressed similar concerns.
“We certainly expect something to move forward from that,” said Burke. “If we don’t get that sort of support, maybe through a regional partnership meeting of the municipalities of Wheatland County, we may issue a letter right to the health minister ourselves.”
In the meantime, Hudson said, Wheatland residents can help themselves when they place a 911 call.
“Each citizen has a responsibility to know their address,” he said, adding that people should keep their address by their phone. Call from a landline, if possible, so the call will be received in Strathmore, and thus the location automatically determined. If calling from a cell phone, ensure the phone’s locator is activated.
Don’t assume that giving the dispatcher your name will mean local responders know your name and address, Hudson said. Dispatchers can’t share your name with emergency responders unless you specifically tell them to do so.
“You have to treat the dispatcher differently because it’s not our local one,” Hudson said. Tell the dispatcher you’re calling from Wheatland County, and tell them you want first responders as well as the ambulance.
Hudson would like to have WADEMSA take over emergency medical services again, he said.
“We’re one of the (dispatch) systems that seemed to be working fine without the Alberta government coming in to fix it.”
The government’s “fix,” he said, has produced a poorer system than they had before.
Burke also said he’d like medical emergency service to be returned to WADEMSA.
“We ran a municipally-operated system for more than 25 years,” he said. “We went through our growing pains, but we had them figured out.”