EverythingGP file photo

By Abby Zieverink

First meeting January 26

EMS advisory committee “working in real-time to pilot solutions”: MLA Allard

Jan 27, 2022 | 6:00 AM

Work has officially started on the newly launched provincial Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee, as its first meeting took place Wednesday morning.

The EMS Advisory Committee was announced on Monday, January 24 by the Alberta government with the goal of helping find solutions to relieve EMS pressures across the province.

The committee is being led by Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard and Highwood MLA R.J. Sigurdson. It also includes contracted ambulance operators, unitions representing paramedics, municipal representatives, and Indigenous community representatives on the committee.

READ MORE: Alberta launches EMS advisory committee & action plan to relieve service pressures

The way the advisory committee works, as Allard describes, is that members will be taking a deep dive into the primary issues of the EMS system as they are identified and will then make recommendations to bring back to Health Minister Jason Copping.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

“While this committee is not responsible for making the decisions, we will be making recommendations in real-time. With the permission of the Minister of Health, if ideas are deemed to be suitable to test, we will be piloting them as the committee works,” she explained.

“We are working in real-time to pilot solutions as they come forward.”

With Grande Prairie being the northern hub, Allard suggests there could be some opportunities to pilot suggestions from the advisory committee, not only in the Swan City but, surrounding communities as well.

She says one issue the committee has identified already is the flow of resources to the greatest area of population, ultimately negatively impacting EMS services in rural Alberta.

“Over the past 10-12 years, in ambulatory services, the presumption was that the bigger metros like Edmonton or Calgary, would support surrounding communities, but in fact, what we’ve found is the opposite has been taking place,” she said.

“So rural Albertans have been left with slower service and that is not an outcome we are wanting to see continue.”

She adds emergency medical services need to be there for all Albertans when there is an emergency, regardless of what part of the province they are in.

Allard says the EMS Advisory Committee is wanting to look into all of the pieces of EMS services including:

• The interface between air ambulance, ground ambulance, and emergency rooms.
• What the metrics should be to ensure the system is performing the best it can.
• Where the opportunities are for improvements to be made as quickly as possible.

Allard tells EverythingGP the EMS advisory committee will be testing and piloting ideas they believe are meritorious, in an effort to make the EMS system more efficient, alleviate pressures on the healthcare system and support EMS staff.

“So the government will move a little bit faster in terms of not waiting for final reports and all of those pieces that instead have a bit of a fluid working reality where if we find some solutions we can test and pilot them to see if they’re actually impacting the metrics as we want them to.”

The EMS Advisory Committee is required to bring a report to Health Minister Jason Copping by the end of May 2022.

“We do have a fairly ambitious timeline; I want to reiterate that we are working in real-time to pilot solutions as they come forward so there is going to be that piece of it,” added Allard.