It doesn’t seem to matter whose numbers you end up using, the situation doesn’t look any more encouraging.
Response times to emergency medical calls in Okotoks has become a hot topic this year as concerns continue to grow that the system isn’t keeping pace with demand, which is potentially putting the lives of local citizens at risk. Data attempting to quantify the situation has come from various sources, and although none of it is computed in quite the same way, it all paints a similar, not-so-flattering picture.
An EMS official told Okotoks council last week that ambulances stationed here were attending calls in Calgary 59 per cent of the time last year, but that number has since dropped by 20 per cent. Figures provided by Alberta Health Services through a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request peg the number of Calgary calls for Okotoks-based ambulances at 47 per cent through the first nine months of the year, while the most recent data collected by the Town of Okotoks shows that in July, firefighters arrived ahead of paramedics on 37 medical calls, which was more than 60 per cent of the time.
Any way you slice it, it’s clear that ambulances that are intended for Okotoks, or at least based here, aren’t necessarily available when they’re needed locally because they’re often dispatched elsewhere. That’s not a knock on a regional approach as it makes sense to use a fluid system that maximizes the resource, but it’s evident there aren’t enough ambulances to go around. It doesn’t take exhaustive research to recognize they’re simply stretched too thin to be everywhere they need to be.
Our new premier has made health care, or at least certain aspects of it, a top priority, so it would be heartening if she added this issue, which is playing out all over the province, to the list of those she’s keen to address. Paramedics deserve better and so do the communities they serve.
