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Medical emergencies contribute to 40% jump in Turner Valley's 2021 fire calls

COVID-19 has put added pressures on department to fill gaps caused by 'overburdened health-care system': fire chief
WW-Deanna Hintze BWC 1047 web
Turner Valley Fire Chief Deanna Hintze in front of the station's engine on Aug. 19.

Turner Valley's 16 volunteer firefighters responded to 237 calls in their 1,984 hours on duty in 2021.

That's a 40 per cent increase from the year prior.

Nearly half of those calls were medical — 111 of the 237 total. In 2020, Turner Valley Fire Department responded to 66 medical calls.

"We have seen a significant increase in medical calls in the last year," Turner Valley Fire Chief Deanna Hintze said in a report to council. "Over the past two years, the number of fire response medical calls has increased." 

Hintze said not only have the number of calls increased, but the time to dispatch fire has as well. 

"The number of calls where the time to dispatch fire (call received back from AHS Dispatch) has exceeded 3.5 minutes in 59 out of 113 calls or 52 per cent," she wrote. "Some delays have been as long as 12 minutes." 

Firefighters' average time on scene ahead of ambulance, too, has increased. On average, Hintze wrote, 13 minutes is the norm. That's up eight minutes from the year prior. 

"One incident, we had an estimated ambulance arrival time of 69 minutes on a critical call and we utilized RCMP to assist us in transferring the patient to hospital," she said. 

COVID-19 is a factor in this increase, Hintze said. 

"It has been a challenging few years with COVID. Our call volume has increased significantly with our fire department members filling in some gaps caused by an overburdened health-care system," she wrote. "As our call volume increases, so does the demand on our members time." 

Hintze will report her findings to Turner Valley council during the regular meeting on Jan. 19. 

Turner Valley and the Town of Okotoks, among others, sponsored an emergent resolution at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association meeting in November. The resolution, which was supported by more than 95 per cent of voters, calls on the province to immediately make a plan to improve the delivery and performance of ambulance services. 




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