Airdrie’s local health-care system got a little more unstable in 2022 as hundreds of hours of EMS shifts went unfilled in the community.
According to freedom of information request (FOIP) documents obtained by the Alberta NDP, Airdrie had 452 unfilled EMS shifts between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 this year, explained the party’s Municipal Affairs Critic Joe Ceci in a recent interview with the Airdrie City View. He said these unfilled shifts, combined with a local physician shortage that saw the Airdrie Urgent Care Centre closed on weekend nights all summer long, should be very concerning to local residents.
“That puts a significant strain on the system, but also on the people of Airdrie,” he said.
According to Ceci, the numbers in Airdrie were part of a more alarming trend which saw roughly 10,000 unfilled EMS shifts across the entire province over the same time span.
Ceci said there is no doubt looking at these statistics that Alberta Health Services’ ambulance dispatch system is in crisis.
“It points to chaos in the EMS system,” explained Ceci. “It points to worker burnout. The ways to fix this are simple. The president of HSAA and the NDP are saying the same thing. There needs to be paramedic crews who spend less time delivering people to hospitals. They are there far too long, and they need to have the opportunity to, when they finish their shifts, to get off shift on time.”
Ceci said paramedics are burning out province-wide because they are over-worked and not given proper compensation for their efforts.
“They need their contracts to reflect they are permanent employees of Alberta Health Services,” he argued. “Incredibly, they are working 89-day casual contracts, which roll over automatically … These are not actually ‘casual’ hours. These are full-time hours day in and day out.”
Ceci reminded Airdronians that the NDP also released FOIP documents earlier this summer that revealed there were 3,000 red alerts in the communities of Airdrie, Cochrane, Strathmore and Chestermere in the past year. Red alerts are the industry term for when no local ambulance is available.
Ceci criticized the UCP government for having “mismanaged” the provincial health-care system during its time in office by underfunding health care and driving doctors out of the province. The NDP member argued this has had a knock-on effect in other aspects of health care such as urgent care centre and clinic hours, alienation of nurses, and EMS burnout.
“Ultimately, we lose people through burnout, or they find permanent positions elsewhere – not with AHS,” said Ceci.
“This government has been fighting with doctors, and disrespecting other health professionals like nurses and EMS, and not treating them properly.”
The Airdrie City View did reach out to Minister of Health Jason Copping’s office to request an interview or comment on these statistics, but had not heard back from the minister’s office prior to press time.
