To: Canmore Town Council.

Open Letter - ALS Fire Response

This open letter is to formally request that Council maintain Advanced Life Support (ALS) care as the level of medical service provided by fire department personnel. Canmore firefighters, paramedics and EMTs are dedicated to protecting our community and we believe strongly that the residents and visiting tourists will face unnecessary risk with the proposed fire medical response to take effect April 1st.

Advanced Life Support (ALS) is the level of training that allows EMS practitioners (Paramedics and EMT’s) to provide critical interventions such as administering IV medications, inserting advanced airway devices and providing electrical cardiac therapy.

Even though Alberta Health Services (AHS) is set to take over responsibility for ambulance service on April 1st, fire department personnel will still routinely be responsible for providing emergency medical care to patients while responding on fire apparatus. This includes:- Initial first response when EMS units are unavailable or delayed- Medical co-response for EMS calls involving a critical injury or

illness- Technical rescue incidents where a substantial delay exists in

transferring patients to an ambulance.- Incidents with multiple patients when EMS units will be

overwhelmed (ie. motor vehicle collisions).

Our call data shows that in 2011 the Town of Canmore was without both ambulances 162 times, for a total of 358 hours or 15 days. In 2012, Canmore’s citizens have been left without any EMS units 35 times for a combined total of over 86 hours or 3.6 days. In considering 2012, that’s an increase of 133% on the same period in 2009, prior to the AHS takeover of EMS dispatch services. The situation shows no sign of improving with 2 out of every 3 EMS calls currently sending our ambulances out of town.

In the first two months of 2012, a fire-medical response has been required 42 times with 4 of these calls being critical, and benefiting from ALS intervention.

Why are we concerned? Statistically, the first 10 minutes of a cardiac arrest determines the outcome for the patient. The Heart & Stroke Foundation states that for every minute without defibrillation the patient’s chance of survival decreases by 10%. In addition, brain damage occurs within 4-6 minutes without oxygen. When we are depleted of EMS units, back up ambulances coming from Banff,

Kannanaskis or even Cochrane, won’t make it to the patient in 10 minutes. The fire department, for the most part, can.

The town has already invested heavily in EMS training and equipment, and presently has the personnel required to provide an Advanced Life Support response. There will be no major capital investments required to continue operating at this level beyond the re-stocking of consumable materials.

We believe this issue is about public safety and urge you to allow Canmore fire fighters to continue to provide and use the skills we have been trained to provide. A fire-based Advanced Life Support service will save lives. We are happy to provide additional research and statistical data should you so request.

Canmore Firefighters Association