WADEMSA survival at stake

Times Contributor 

 

Strathmore/Brooks MLA Jason Hale is looking for support for the WADEMSA contract talks. 

“It is another huge issue,” said Hale. “The province wants to come in and take over the contract, so they will not pay WADEMSA what they need to run the ambulances. We are doing everything we can to hold onto that service. There is no way that they can run the ambulance service better than our local people, or more efficient than our local people. It is another fight. We will keep pushing hard to get them to change their mind.”

Rob Witty, Coordinator of Executive Operations for WADEMSA, said the service has figures that support its claim that it is running the service efficiently.

“From the information we have, WADEMSA is way cheaper than provincially run services, but they are coming to us and saying we are not going to give you that money, you have to run it for less. When they take it over, they are not going to be running it for less, as they are already running other areas for more. So why not give us the money to run the service,” said Witty. 

The contract talks show the two sides are about $500,000 away from a possible settlement. Members want to show figures that provincial operations have jumped from $55 million up to $400 million in the space of five years. 

“They are taking on what we’ve municipally run, sucking it up and spending eight fold what they were three years ago. Those are the challenges we are facing,” said Witty.

He said Alberta Health Services (AHS) have doubled staff in some areas, but have no idea what individual services cost to run. WADEMSA and local residents are asking for accountability on how that money has been spent.

The Health Minister Fred Horne assured Hale that if taken over the quality of service will not be an issue. Yet Hale sees the possible scenarios where care could be affected. The Minister has declined to get involved in negotiations.

“Who do you trust more, your local people who are doing really good work that have to find efficiencies and answer to you and the municipalities; or do you trust Alberta Health Services to do the right thing and find efficiencies, when just in February the Auditor General has shown that in the last 17 months Alberta Health Services has spent 100 million dollars on credit cards?” said Towle.

The purchases were in large for entertainment, meals and credit interest.

Reeve Glenn Koester said WADEMSA was built on donations from the community and physician support. He commended the present administrative efforts of staff to manage the three municipally-supported ambulances.

“Our staff work and crunch the numbers. We are not average. We have been here for 25 years with experienced staff serving for 15 to 20 years. They are not average staff working for an average wage. This is the discrepancy,” said Koester.

AHS is negotiating using staff wages at a lower level. He said there are plans to downgrade the staff and reduce Advanced Life Support on the cars. He asked that Hale and Towle arrange a meeting with Chris Eagle to discuss the discrepancies. Requests for meetings have been roadblocked at every turn. The county is supporting the service by $30,000 per quarter to keep up the contract. He also asked residents to contact and lobby officials.

“If we don’t get the support of the community, I don’t know how we will do it, this will die a slow death,” said Koester about WADEMSA’s chances for survival.

“We have tried to play nice, going through the proper channels. We have been negotiating this contract for two years. We are down to five weeks before the end of the contract, which I am quite certain they won’t review,” said Witty.

He said they are forcing the municipalities to pay the $500,000 to keep the service running or divest to Alberta Health Services.

“Centralization of client care is a disaster and this is just another version of that,” said Towle.

Towle said that the staff needs to have courage to come forward and speak to media and support the initiatives put in play by Hale. Residents also need to support their local service. 

The question remains whether residents care enough to write one letter, one quick email, or attend one rally to support the service that has cared for them over the last 25 years. Is there anyone who would share their story of life saved, to support saving the life of WADEMSA in our community?