Province working to ease pressure on EMS resources

By Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2022.

Herald photo An EMS crew exits an ambulance after backing into a bay Thursday at the downtown Fire Headquarters Station 1.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Minister of Health Jason Copping spoke to the media Thursday about what the province is doing to help decrease the EMS response times and to ease the pressure on EMS and other resources. 

Minister Copping thanked all paramedics and EMS workers across the province for their dedication, compassion and commitment to providing the best care for Albertans.

“I’m very aware that EMS workers around Alberta have been working tirelessly to respond to the surge in call volumes we’ve seen since last August COVID-19 has driven up calls and added to delays in offloading in hospitals, because frankly emergency is extremely busy a lot of the time,” said Copping. 

He said he is aware of how tired everyone is and how EMS personnel are doing everything they can. 

“You want and need help. We have heard you and we’re working to support you to help ease EMS pressures and improve response times, because that’s the bottom line response times have gotten too long we need to get them back down to within AHS targets,” said Copping. 

He said that is easy to say but not easy to do and he is aware of that. 

“COVID has disrupted the healthcare everywhere to an incredible extent… call volumes and response times have spiked in recent months on top of the surge over the past year,” said Copping. 

He said they cannot wait for the current wave of COVID to pass as they need to add capacity as fast as they can and they have started. 

“First, AHS is hiring more paramedics and boosting EMS staffing. They’re moving quickly to hire into 100 full-time permanent EMS positions and extending 70 temporary positions,” said Copping.

He said that is on top of the increase of 230 EMS staff from the past two years. 

Copping said he was pleased to announce another practical step to increase the pool of available EMS staff and keep more ambulances on the road by easing staffing requirements. 

“I’m granting a one-year exemption to allow Emergency Medical Responders (EMR) to staff more types of ambulances. EMRs are one of three classes of EMS practitioners registered with the Alberta College of paramedics,” said Copping. 

He said this staffing change will allow two emergency medical responders to transfer stable patients without the need for a higher-level paramedic. 

“That’s only in non-emergency transfers. This move will free up other paramedics to respond to more urgent calls,” said Copping. 

He added that when no other option is available an EMR can now join an advanced care or primary care paramedic to respond to urgent calls and this will improve coverage and response times especially in rural communities where staff fatigue and staffing challenges can be more acute. 

“I approve this temporary staffing exemption based on a request from AHS and a recommendation from the provincial EMS advisory committee that changes in line with other provinces including BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” said Copping. 

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