Town supports Okotoks’ call for better ambulance services, opens similar discussion locally
By John Watson Local Journalism initiative Reporter
The Town of Strathmore is endorsing the Town of Okotoks for an emergent resolution regarding the development of a plan to improve the delivery and performance of ambulance system.
Mayor Pat Fule said he empathizes with the Town of Okotoks and agrees that ambulance services that are designed to serve municipalities outside of the City of Calgary should remain in their respective municipalities.
“The way it works right now, if you have a medical issue, it goes to a different center for Calgary for dispatching,” said Fule. “What we’re finding is that there are times that our ambulances are not in Strathmore because they’ve been brought in to do something in Calgary, or they’ve been diverted.”
For Strathmore, Fule said there are occasions where the nearest ambulance is coming in from Nanton to assist, as Strathmore’s ambulances are often being directed to emergencies in Calgary.
Council endorsed a similar request from Red Deer earlier this year for an independent review of emergency medical services in the Calgary region and surrounding areas.
“It is a real problem that we don’t always have ambulances here in our town and the time it takes for ambulances to be arriving at accidents or medical situations is becoming longer because of this and there has been a lot more pressure on the fire department to be first responders,” said Fule.
He added he hopes to see Strathmore, Wheatland County and all municipalities surrounding Calgary make their voices heard and advocate for better operation of services designed to serve their communities.
Fule explained the request from Okotoks was for support in their views as how the problem should be addressed.
“We really need the province and (Alberta Health Services) AHS to start looking at having a level playing field and ensuring that rural areas can keep their ambulances in their areas and not have them regularly diverted to the Calgary Metro region,” he said.
Fule added he intends to be in touch with MLA Leela Aheer to discuss the ambulance situation in Strathmore, following suit of Red Deer and Okotoks’ examples.
“It’s something that is on everybody’s radar and it’s very worrisome,” said Fule. “I think people need to be aware that this was a change – Alberta Health (Services) took over dispatching (and) they said there was going to be no degradation of services and times and getting calls out, calls received and calls dispatched, but that hasn’t been the case.”
“There have been too many times where people have had scary situations because it took a long time for an ambulance to arrive and it’s coming from a different location because our local ambulances are not around.”