Thread by @TheBreakdownAB

Live tweeting todays EMS presser?

Sounds good!

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #EMS

Copping - EMS is busy yo. No people, no trucks, call volume is up.

References the 4 Airdrie calls that saw CFD transport a child because there were no ambulances available…

/2

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #EMS

Copping - We increased paramedics and the EMS budget, but that wasn’t enough.

So we’re running an EMS advisory committee that’s run by MLA’s Allard and Sigurdson.

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Copping - We’ll get some recommendations from the committee in May.

Ooooo! An objective review of the EMS dispatch system from a third party!

Wonder what Allan is up to these days…

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Copping - HSAA gets a chair on the committee. Turns it over to Sigurdson to talk about the committee…

Sigurdson is super stoked to be here. He’s says he’s ready. He’s heard from constituents that health care workers are overwhelmed.

Lots of compliments for paramedics.

Sigurdson - The committee is super awesome. They’ve got a bunch of people.

Still haven’t said who they are tho…

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Sigurdson - Kicks it to Allard.

Allard - EMS is important. Wait times are bad.

There’s a lot of feathers here, but not much chicken yet. It seems like so far this announcement is just to announce that there will be a committee.

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Allard kicks it to the chief paramedic.

Apparently there ARE some new initiatives…

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Sandbeck - Props to the government. Mentions the senior medical director. The advisory panel will be super awesome.

EMS is under pressure. Demand is historic. This isn’t just an Alberta problem. We’ve taken steps to address these challenges.

Sandbeck - We’ve already taken a bunch of these steps.

Wait, didn’t Copping just open with examples from just a few days ago for how bad things are?

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Sandbeck - We’re changing up staff hours. We are kicking low acuity calls to other agencies like healthlink and 811. EMS won’t be going to car accidents unless there are injuries reported.

Sandbeck - We’re going to continue to hire more paramedics. We’re trying to fill openings.

We’re trying to dial back interfacility transfers from nursing homes as long as they’re super not sick.

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Sandbeck - We’re going to.. create a new level of administration with the creation of a new department to oversee EMS?

We’re going to look at whether or not rural ambulances should be sent to city calls. It won’t be the closest ambulance anymore.

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Sandbeck - Ambulances will be pre-empted to higher acuity calls.

They don’t… do that already?

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Sandbeck - There’s going to be a five year plan developed. Maybe 10 years too.

Run-Roh. Brock is gonna be pissed about a 5 year plan.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #EMS

Sandbeck - Underscores that most of these actions have already begun.

But again, Copping opened by underscoring the problems from a few days ago.

So… huh?

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Sandbeck - Apologizes for those affected by the shortage in Airdrie last week.

And here come the questions!

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Question - Asking about vaccination of children from 5-11 given Alberta has the lowest rate in Canada.

Copping - We’re at ~42%. We have vaccination sites open. We established a vaccination hesitation committee. So yup.

Reporter - Do I get a follow up?

Question - Why does Alberta’s pediatric vaccination rate suck so much and what are you going to do?

Copping - More of the same pretty much. Hinshaw wrote a letter to parents, so that’ll move the needle. We aren’t doing much different than other provinces.

Question - How are you going to deal with the lower priority calls? Doesn’t that creat bed blocking and potentially worse situations.

Copping - We have a 10 point plan. Plus we have a committee. We just announced it today. Defers to the Doc.

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Dr. Mark Mckenzie - Our problem is we have more calls than trucks. So we’re going to delay low priority calls in favor of the life threatening ones.

We’ll keep calling back and docs will check on them or find alternative options.

Question - You talked about the hours of work project, what is that?

Sandbeck - We’re calling it fatigue management. Sometimes medics work too long and get tired, and there’s a few stations where it’s really bad. So we’re working our way through the list of really big problems.

Question - If these measures are already in place, are they permanent or just band aid fixes?

Sandbeck - We want them to be permanent. We really can’t be sending trucks to non-injury collisions. We just don’t have the resources.

#abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #EMS

Question - The NDP is calling for daily reporting of Red Alerts and EMS supervisors in hospitals. Thinking about that?

Sandbeck - We only do Red Alert reporting in Calgary and Edmonton. So we’ll see what the committee says.

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Sandbeck - As for the supervisors in hospitals, it helped at the beginning but stopped working. We’ve got this new committee though, did we mention that?

Copping is tapping in…

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Copping - One of the biggest reasons that we’ve created the committee is to help us redefine the metrics of success.

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Question - Why haven’t you guys moved on this sooner and what changes will make an impact immediately?

Copping - We’ve known the system has been under strain, that’s why so many of the measures we’re announcing today are already in place.

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Sandbeck - To supplement, we’re super excited about this committee.

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Question - HSAA asked about staff not being able to get time off or access PPE. Comments were made about unions being the problem. Square that?

Copping - We have them at the table in our committee.

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Question - Will you be making any changes to public reporting? Everything has had to be foiped. Will you make those public?

Copping - We look forward to the advice of the committee.

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Question - So the answer is no? Still gotta FOIP? And for Sandbeck, have these new measures created any impact?

Copping - Well I didn’t say no, it’s up to the committee

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Sandbeck - A number of the initiatives have been put in place for a while but not that long. We don’t know if they’ve had any impact yet.

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Question - I got an email from a doc who says that hallway waits are a big problem. Should we maybe do something about paramedics taking over care for other patients? Do we do that?

Sandbeck - Yeah, we do that already. Crews already take over 2-3 patients in the hallways.

Question - How bad was the consolidation of dispatch in contributing to the state of things?

Copping - 2 separate issues. Wowzers, Copping and HSAA agree on something! The EMS situation isn’t because of dispatch, it’s because we don’t have enough trucks!

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Sandbeck - Yeah. What Copping said. We’ve seen a 30% increase in calls. That’s why EMS is overwhelmed, it’s not a dispatch problem.

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And that’s all folks!

Did we mention there’s a committee?

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