If the Alberta Government handles PSC the way they handled Health Care in Alberta, it will be a big mess! They talk the talk but don't walk the walk! Then it is left to the peons to pick up the pieces and make the jig saw work. I'm afraid we are moving to less educated, experienced people handling life/death situations. I have heard numerous problems with RCMP dispatch not even knowing what detachment covers what area. Let along knowing what roads are in the area or how to get to a call. Does help to have computers on board so that RCMP can punch in a coordinate to know where they have to get to. But all this takes time. Hospitals got screwed up in 1992 when dumb Ralphie tried to cut boards and change Health Care by laying off professionals then turning around and hiring untrained Health Care Aides [oh I know, they have 12 weeks of training]. But we are talking about dealing with people not widgets. It all sounds nice, but the proof is in the pudding. And the pudding is still liquid running everywhere. I hope this dispatch system holds up better than the liquid pudding Health Care system we have. And I hope April 1 doesn't turn into a fools day.
Alberta Provincial EMS (was: EMS Mutual Aid?)
- Thread starter MrVelvet
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Keep in mind that PSC, like any other dispatch center that potentially could be given the contract, is a contract entity. All the province has to say about it is that agency XYZ does the dispatch (PSC or someone else, whoever gets the deal - see below). The province gets to decide deployment, dispatch policy, etc., but doesn't run the actual dispatch center.
The RFP that the province put out recently required dispatch centers to have redundant backups (i.e. multiple sources of power, phone lines, etc), standard call evaluation procedures, etc., and as far as I know, most of the agencies that dispatch in Alberta already use the Medical Priority Dispatch System.
I definitely understand your frustrations with the RCMP dispatch. I understand that prior to the PROS computers coming in, there were no maps whatsoever in Red Deer Telecoms. To this day, whether I'm a civilian caller or a peer calling from my own center, I routinely need to help the call evaluator find out which detachment's area the issue I'm calling about is in.
I know that if PSC gets the Calgary region, you have little to fear about the dispatch quality. A large chunk of the Calgary Health Region (which runs from Saskatchewan River Crossing east to Wheatland County, and Didsbury south to Claresholm) is already either dispatched by PSC or in the PSC's CAD map, and the system is expandable to cover that area with ease, technologically speaking.
The decision about which dispatch agencies will get which health regions has been put off yet again. It was originally slated for November 28, and pushed back a week to December 5. Now it has been pushed back again, to the week of the 15th (I can't remember the exact date). Alberta Health cites "more to evaluate than [they] anticipated" for the reason it's getting put off like this. I have a few possible theories on this, such as there being no qualified dispatch centers bidding for a given health region, etc. I can't say if that's true, but here's an example. On this page you will see a map of the health regions in the province. Calgary's region #3. Remember how I said that Calgary covers from Sask River Crossing (way north of Lake Louise) to Strathmore? That's a big area, right? Look at health region #7. That's the region north of Edmonton (Capital Health Region #6). Whoever dispatches for region #7 has to cover an area from Jasper to Cold Lake. That's a ridiculously huge area to be responsible for. I wouldn't want to try that, that's for sure. Not with the equipment that I have at my disposal - we'd need lots more dispatchers and a significantly expanded CAD map (which, as I said before, is technically possible, but requires a lot of work by geomatics and I.T. specialists to make happen).
Anyway, the province is intent on regional dispatching to involve "nine or less" dispatch centers, meaning that all the ambulances in a given health region will be covered by one dispatch center, and it is possible that one dispatch center may be responsible for more than one health region. For example, it's entirely possible that Edmonton might be asked to take on both Capital Health Region #6 and East Central Health Region #5 (Camrose, Flagstaff County, etc).
Other people I've spoken to about the provincial service are less concerned with the dispatch issue than they are with the level of service. The province insists that grade of service will not suffer, but it's very possible that they may still offer a "paramedic" or advanced life support service in a different way than is offered now. Example: Calgary staffs most of its ambulances with at least two paramedics, and sometimes two paramedics and an EMT - in rare cases, one paramedic and one EMT. (For those who don't know, a paramedic is more highly trained than an EMT and can deliver advanced drugs and care.) It's entirely possible that the province might want to save money by staffing all ambulances with one paramedic and one EMT, or, if they realize that the majority of ambulance calls don't actually require a paramedic's skills, they might staff all ambulances with two EMTs, and put one paramedic in a "PRU" (paramedic response unit - in Calgary, a Ford Explorer or Jeep Cherokee or similar) who can float around the area and respond if needed. However, if you need that paramedic, where is he coming from - across the city? Another town in the health region? Or is he tied up on another call and unavailable?
Another question being asked of the province is what about first responders? I.e. the fire departments that do medical response to back up the medics, provide drivers, or just help out when the ambulance is a long way away. The province has said go for it, it's a good plan, keep it up - but don't expect any money for it. In other words, if Rocky View intends to keep departments like Springbank, Balzac, Langdon, Redwood Meadows, etc., going to medical calls, they'll have to foot the bill themselves.
Pretty much all of the questions being asked of the province right now are being answered with some form of "don't worry, we've got it covered". I'm going to be installing four-point racing seat belts to my dispatch chair on the last tour before April... I work April 1-2-3-4.
The RFP that the province put out recently required dispatch centers to have redundant backups (i.e. multiple sources of power, phone lines, etc), standard call evaluation procedures, etc., and as far as I know, most of the agencies that dispatch in Alberta already use the Medical Priority Dispatch System.
I definitely understand your frustrations with the RCMP dispatch. I understand that prior to the PROS computers coming in, there were no maps whatsoever in Red Deer Telecoms. To this day, whether I'm a civilian caller or a peer calling from my own center, I routinely need to help the call evaluator find out which detachment's area the issue I'm calling about is in.
I know that if PSC gets the Calgary region, you have little to fear about the dispatch quality. A large chunk of the Calgary Health Region (which runs from Saskatchewan River Crossing east to Wheatland County, and Didsbury south to Claresholm) is already either dispatched by PSC or in the PSC's CAD map, and the system is expandable to cover that area with ease, technologically speaking.
The decision about which dispatch agencies will get which health regions has been put off yet again. It was originally slated for November 28, and pushed back a week to December 5. Now it has been pushed back again, to the week of the 15th (I can't remember the exact date). Alberta Health cites "more to evaluate than [they] anticipated" for the reason it's getting put off like this. I have a few possible theories on this, such as there being no qualified dispatch centers bidding for a given health region, etc. I can't say if that's true, but here's an example. On this page you will see a map of the health regions in the province. Calgary's region #3. Remember how I said that Calgary covers from Sask River Crossing (way north of Lake Louise) to Strathmore? That's a big area, right? Look at health region #7. That's the region north of Edmonton (Capital Health Region #6). Whoever dispatches for region #7 has to cover an area from Jasper to Cold Lake. That's a ridiculously huge area to be responsible for. I wouldn't want to try that, that's for sure. Not with the equipment that I have at my disposal - we'd need lots more dispatchers and a significantly expanded CAD map (which, as I said before, is technically possible, but requires a lot of work by geomatics and I.T. specialists to make happen).
Anyway, the province is intent on regional dispatching to involve "nine or less" dispatch centers, meaning that all the ambulances in a given health region will be covered by one dispatch center, and it is possible that one dispatch center may be responsible for more than one health region. For example, it's entirely possible that Edmonton might be asked to take on both Capital Health Region #6 and East Central Health Region #5 (Camrose, Flagstaff County, etc).
Other people I've spoken to about the provincial service are less concerned with the dispatch issue than they are with the level of service. The province insists that grade of service will not suffer, but it's very possible that they may still offer a "paramedic" or advanced life support service in a different way than is offered now. Example: Calgary staffs most of its ambulances with at least two paramedics, and sometimes two paramedics and an EMT - in rare cases, one paramedic and one EMT. (For those who don't know, a paramedic is more highly trained than an EMT and can deliver advanced drugs and care.) It's entirely possible that the province might want to save money by staffing all ambulances with one paramedic and one EMT, or, if they realize that the majority of ambulance calls don't actually require a paramedic's skills, they might staff all ambulances with two EMTs, and put one paramedic in a "PRU" (paramedic response unit - in Calgary, a Ford Explorer or Jeep Cherokee or similar) who can float around the area and respond if needed. However, if you need that paramedic, where is he coming from - across the city? Another town in the health region? Or is he tied up on another call and unavailable?
Another question being asked of the province is what about first responders? I.e. the fire departments that do medical response to back up the medics, provide drivers, or just help out when the ambulance is a long way away. The province has said go for it, it's a good plan, keep it up - but don't expect any money for it. In other words, if Rocky View intends to keep departments like Springbank, Balzac, Langdon, Redwood Meadows, etc., going to medical calls, they'll have to foot the bill themselves.
Pretty much all of the questions being asked of the province right now are being answered with some form of "don't worry, we've got it covered". I'm going to be installing four-point racing seat belts to my dispatch chair on the last tour before April... I work April 1-2-3-4.
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Couldn't agree more Jay. The government often promotes a Cadillac service yet they are only willing to supply a junk yard service. Yet they will increase their salary, pensions because you have to "pay for the best". But when it comes to health care or EMS/Fire/Police services they want to keep it in the junk yard.
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