BOYLE – The Village of Boyle will be a part of the province’s attempt to improve emergency medical services across the province.
The Alberta government clarified last week where it intends to put the additional $64 million that was allotted for EMS improvements in the February budget, announcing March 10 that $28 million will go toward new ambulances and crews; $22 million will go toward non-ambulance patient transfers, ground ambulance contracts and a new integrated operations centre in Calgary; and $14 million will go toward 14 different rural communities to improve working hours and conditions for local EMS staff — including in Boyle.
The village has experienced several periods without ambulance coverage in the last year, and as recently as March 1. One incident on Oct. 31 last year required a Barrhead-based ambulance to travel to Boyle to respond to an emergency call. The two communities are about 150 km apart.
Boyle mayor Colin Derko said he was more than happy to hear Boyle, along with 13 other Alberta communities, would be a part of the province’s ‘hours of work’ project, which is designed to change work hours, shifts and scheduling to help paramedics deal with fatigue.
“I'm very excited for the fact that something is getting done and even more excited for the fact that it's going to directly impact our community, with funding and whatnot. It's nice to see that, that they're paying attention to the areas that need it,” he said.
Derko hand-delivered a letter to Minister of Health Jason Copping at the spring Alberta Municipalities conference on behalf of council, expressing the village’s concerns.
It is literally a life and death issue, he said.
“I said, ‘Listen, I don't want to be a critic here, but I think you guys need to know this. If you don't know, here it is. How are you going to help?’” Derko recalled of his brief meeting with the health minister. “This affects every Albertan, I don't care if you're homeless or a part of the uber-rich, these people are saving us on the highways and in our homes.”
CAO Warren Griffin was in attendance at the Alberta Municipalities leaders’ caucus last week, where Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement. He said he glad to see the province taking action and implementing a long-term plan to deal with the EMS system.
“The province is trying to deal with this. With the announcement … they see there’s a problem,” he said. “I’m glad that the province is taking it seriously. It sounds like they've identified a lot of problems and they've got a lot of work to do, but they're trying to address it. So, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and be optimistic about it, and we'll see where it goes.”
Premier Kenney told the leaders’ caucus the 12 per cent increase in EMS funding was just the start.
“The point is we’ve listened, and we know EMS is important to you, to all of us, to your constituents, the people you serve,” Kenney said at the AM leaders’ caucus, where he made the announcement last week. “This will help ease system pressure and continue to make EMS more responsive to communities needs across the province in a way that makes sense to paramedics and EMS support staff.”
