The city is pressing the province to put another ambulance on St. Albert streets as it looks forward to providing contract services for another year.
Council voted Monday evening to seek a one-year extension to its contract to provide ambulance service to Alberta Health Services. The existing two-year deal expires at the end of March.
A separate motion calls for the city to seek resources to provide a third, full-time ambulance.
"The goal of our negotiations is to address the unacceptable service level issues that have occurred since ambulance responsibility was transferred to AHS," said Mayor Nolan Crouse in a press release.
The city operates two full-time ambulances under contract to the province, which took over ambulance service from municipalities in April 2009. Under the new borderless system, St. Albert's units respond to calls inside and outside the city with backup coverage coming from ambulances based in Edmonton or Spruce Grove.
Data gathered between between March and November 2010 shows that ambulances responding to St. Albert from Edmonton took 22 minutes, five seconds, 90 per cent of the time, whereas ambulances coming from Spruce Grove posted a time of 23:44.
St. Albert ambulances posted a response time of 10:44, 90 per cent of the time, which includes calls to outlying locations like Morinville or Sturgeon County.
Crouse isn't happy with the response times and this week began a media campaign to publicly demand a third St. Albert-based ambulance.
"We have talked about going from two to four," he said. "I'm being realistic when I say it's likely not going to happen, but I'm also being realistic when I believe that the data is supportive of three."
The city used to operate its own integrated ambulance and fire response service. That system allowed St. Albert to operate two or three ambulances as it saw fit and had the capacity to mobilize a fourth ambulance when needed.
Crouse would ultimately like to see the current system offer that level of flexibility again.
"What we're really trying to do is plant the seed that we don't believe that three is going to be adequate. Two is clearly not," he said. "What Alberta Health Services needs to do is find the money to do this."
AHS extends contract
The existing contracts between AHS and contract providers gives the provincial agency the option of extending the contracts for another year and AHS has decided to exercise that option, said spokesperson Sheila Rougeau.
This essentially moots council's motion to extend the city's contract.
In the meantime, the agency is aware of St. Albert's concerns and wants to work with the community to find a solution, Rougeau said, but this doesn't necessarily mean adding a third, full-time ambulance.
"If it's determined that more resources are required for the St. Albert area, that's one possible scenario but it's not the only possible scenario. All options need to be put on the table and looked at very carefully," she said.
One potential option would be to bring in an ambulance from another community at certain times if the data shows identifiable peak periods, she said.
Walk away?
Some Alberta municipalities, such as Airdrie, have walked away from delivering ambulance services but St. Albert's council didn't view that as an option, Crouse said. Council feels that staying involved enables the city to maintain some influence on service levels within St. Albert, Crouse said.
"I suppose it would be easier for the province if everybody walked away … it doesn't necessarily mean you're being served better," Crouse said. "At least this way we are watching it very closely."
