Alberta responds as COVID-19 calls swamping emergency medical response

Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping says an emergency response crisis in southern Alberta last week highlights the need to do more to alleviate stress in a network dangerously strained by COVID-19 and other factors.

Copping referred to four emergency calls coming in simultaneously in Airdrie, on Calgary's northern outskirts, which forced one medically fragile boy with a broken leg to be taken to hospital by fire truck because ambulances weren't available.

"This was an extraordinary situation — a rush of urgent calls on a busy day in the middle of winter at a time when we are likely approaching the peak of pressure on the system from the [COVID-19] pandemic," Copping said Monday.

Copping said health officials scrambled to fill the gaps. Supervisors were put in front-line positions and inter-facility transfers of non-urgent patients were paused and firefighters trained in paramedic care stepped up.

"I'm grateful that the patients all received the care they needed, but the reality is the delays that day were too long," he said.

"We don't ever want to be in a position where we put other emergency services at risk to fill the gaps in our urgent medical care."

Lia Lousier has told media her 10-year-old-son, Braeden Lousier-Hicks, had to be taken to hospital in a fire truck on Thursday when he broke his femur and no ambulances were available.

Lousier said Braeden has a genetic disorder that results in brittle bones among other complications.

Lousier could not be reached for comment Monday.

Health care in Alberta, particularly emergency response, has been under crushing pressure in recent weeks with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

While the number of COVID-19 intensive care patients has been less than in previous waves of the pandemic, the sheer number of people requiring attention, or a hospital bed, soared to unprecedented levels last week.

On Friday, there were almost 1,200 in hospital with the infection, including 107 in intensive care.

The high volume, coupled with health staffing pressures, has resulted in jammed emergency wards, paramedics waiting long periods to deliver patients to ERs and multiple red alerts, meaning no ambulances are free to respond.

Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic for Alberta Health Services, said a number of changes are being made to reduce strain on the system.