Advocating for Healthcare and EMS

Letters to your MLA, Cabinet Ministers, and the Premier are a great way to highlight your concerns about healthcare issues.

MLA Angela Pitt - Airdrie.East@assembly.ab.ca
MLA Pete Guthrie - Airdrie.Cochrane@assembly.ab.ca
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange - health.minister@gov.ab.ca
Premier Danielle Smith - premier@gov.ab.ca

Here’s a sample letter you can use or feel free to draft your own if you have personal experiences to share (keeping it respectful, factual and concise). Just copy the text, click on the 'Send a letter' link and paste the text into your email. 

Send a letter

Copy and paste the text below into your the body of your email.

Alberta is growing. Your government is calling people here. A lot of new and relocating Albertans are choosing Airdrie and we are happy to welcome them into our community, but you have to know how this is impacting us.

Growing quickly is not a new concept for Airdrie. Our city doubled in size in just over a decade. Today at over 80,000 residents, we are the fastest growing city in Alberta.

Airdrie has healthcare resource needs, driven by growth, that the Province must meet.

3+ years is a long time to wait for more healthcare resources.
We appreciate the $3 million to plan for a North Calgary/Airdrie Health Centre but planning dollars are not commitments for new hospitals or healthcare spaces. Our population continues to grow, which will increase pressure on the system every day until new facilities are operational. The need exists now, and it takes time to build.

We’re an urban centre with rural healthcare.
Most of our friends and neighbours are without a family physician. There are no dedicated walk-in clinics and no doctors accepting new patients in Airdrie. Working with a doctor to maintain a healthy lifestyle is next to impossible, because healthcare resources only seem to respond when people are already sick.

Airdrie Urgent Care Centre upgrades will not fill the gap. 
For a population of over 80,000 who are at least 30 minutes from the nearest hospital and sometimes, an uncertain EMS wait, AUCC does not adequately meet the healthcare needs of our community.

Our community deserves better. Will you partner with Airdrie to fill the health resource gaps in our city and support the health and wellbeing of our residents?

Sincerely,

• Beginning in the 1980’s, the City of Airdrie provided integrated EMS and Fire services
• This included full time staffing of ambulances. The integrated model allowed for consistent fire and medical response that balanced peak demands for either service. Additional ambulances could be brought online by shifting fire staff to ambulances and less frequently, EMS staff could move to staff fire trucks during large incidents.
• EMS moves from public safety to healthcare
• In 2008, the Provincial Government announced the transition of EMS delivery from municipalities to provincial jurisdiction within the umbrella of AHS. EMS is no longer considered a public safety system and now considered to be healthcare.
• The City entered a contract with AHS to maintain the existing service in which AHS paid for a set number of ambulances. In a short period of time, it was no longer feasible to maintain EMS service through contract as the City was fined each time EMS staff were used for fire response and no compensation was provided for additional ambulances being staffed by fire crews. City EMS resources would also be deployed outside of Airdrie.
• Ambulance service in Airdrie transitions from municipal authority to the Province
• In 2010, the Province provided Airdrie with a commitment that there would be no reduction in service to the city, including the number of ambulances available. (Currently ambulances in Airdrie do more responses outside of Airdrie than inside Airdrie.)
• The new provincial system was “borderless”, in which ambulances no longer serve a specific area but can be dispatched into neighbouring jurisdictions with the rationale to ensure the closest ambulance responds to serious calls.
• Several Alberta cities have continued to provide EMS through municipally run EMS/Fire services (with EMS service contracted under AHS). These municipalities have no control over their EMS resources (response areas, hallway waits or number of funded units/staff)
• Medical first response (MFR) program begins in Airdrie
• After the transition of EMS to the Province, Airdrie Fire Department (AFD) was established as a MFR agency with AHS. The purpose would be to support EMS in co-response to ensure emergency lifesaving medical care was always available in Airdrie.
• This level of service has been maintained since that time.

Although not required by the Province, some municipalities, such as Airdrie, choose to provide Basic Life Support (BLS) emergency medical response by training members of local fire departments to provide this level of emergency lifesaving medical care.

Before joining AFD, firefighters must hold a valid Primary Care Paramedic (formerly Emergency Medical Technician) registration with Alberta College of Paramedics.

The cost to provide residents in the City of Airdrie with a guaranteed BLS emergency medical response through AFD is approximately $100,000 per year. This includes medical equipment and supplies as well as, training and professional fees for fire members.

That’s approximately $1.25 per resident annually. The City of Airdrie and Council believe that the provision of this service is essential to ensuring lifesaving emergency medical response is available whenever our residents need it.

EMS response times and the number of requests for medical response are outside of the City’s control but emergency medical response through AFD is one way we can support Airdrie residents in a time of medical need.

Number of AFD medical responses

These would be medical responses to calls for:
• breathing problems
• unconscious / fainting
• chest pain
• sick person not alert
• falls
• seizures
• cardiac arrest

An EMS delay of 10 minutes or more on an emergent response triggers a request for AFD medical assistance.

2023 indicators show a reduction in emergent calls which might be attributed to more EMS availability within the 10-minute window.

Medical call volume is growing but at the same percent of the total responses for AFD. EMS responses are not increasing out of proportion to other emergency events.

When is AFD first on scene?

The number of times AFD arrived before EMS increased substantially in 2020/2021 and has not significantly changed since. To date in 2023, AFD has been first on scene for 45% of medical response calls.

Average time on scene prior to EMS arrival

The 5:12/5:24 average arrival for EMS after AFD in 2021/2022 was very inconsistent and had considerable variability in actual arrival time.

While the number of events AFD arrives to EMS is still elevated, so far this year, consistency in a 3:24 arrival after AFD is much greater.

Longest wait for EMS arrival (AFD on scene)

The longer AFD waits for EMS arrival, the less availability there is for other calls. Over 20% of medical responses overlap other calls. AFD can only provide immediate lifesaving interventions, a timely EMS system is needed for all parts to function well together.