AHS, Town and MD of Pincher Creek sign Ambulance Services contract

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

• 5 year contract with possibility of two 2-year extensions
• Commission still a work in progress
• Staffing levels expected to increase
• "We wanted to remain in the ambulance business, because we think we provide superior service to our community." - Dave Cox
• "Under the contract we have to provide a higher level of service." - Bjorn Berg

Alberta Health Services has signed a long-negotiated Ambulance services Contract with the Town of Pincher Creek and the MD of Pincher Creek No. 9.


In interviews yesterday afternoon Pincher Creek Emergency Services Chief Dave Cox and Chair of Pincher Creek Emergency Services (PCES) Bjorn Berg both expressed their approval of the contract.  

"We've been in negotiations for quite a while for our ambulance contract," said Cox.  "We did have an interim agreement in place that we could have signed, but we didn't need to sign because we have now committed ourselves to five years of more ambulance service."

"The contract also stipulates that we could be extended twice, two years per extension.  So we could be in this another nine years.  Because we are regional, both the Town of Pincher Creek and the MD of Pincher Creek were signatories on the agreement," Cox explained.  "We're quite happy.  We wanted to remain in the ambulance business, because we think we provide superior service to our community.  We want to continue to do that, and with this contract, we can continue to do that."

Berg elaborated on the process of attaining the contract and PCES priorities in working to achieve it. "As part of the negotiating team, every time we went somewhere, it was how do we keep control on this thing, how do we make it work and how do end up with a contract where we can keep the ambulance in our community for the safety of our citizens," he said.

"For me that was the goal from the outset."

Berg was unsure if the document had to go to a higher level of government for final approval or not.  He signed it on behalf of the MD council and Mayor Ernie Olsen signed it on behalf of Town council.  "We have full authority from both of our councils to enter into the contract with Alberta Health Services for supplying the ambulances down here," Berg said.  "We've had a contract with AHS, beginning in 2009.  It was originally a two-year contract with two year extension bits on it and, because of so many delays, we go so far in a negotiation and then things just stop, that we weren't really quite sure where we were at. So we were at the very end of the contract period for that other contract."

"We've been operating under those requirements and at those costs since 2009.  It's pretty much a happiness now, because we're going to get more money and we'll be able to pay staff and have different qualified levels of staff in our ambulance which we couldn't afford previously."

"Under the contract we have to provide a higher level of service."

"We're one of only a few, a handful that are left in the province that are actually willing to step out and actually provide ambulance services for AHS. Most of the communities around us have actually signed them over to Alberta Health Services."

"We think it's an advantage to us to keep control of this, within our system we run an integrated program with our fire and ambulance and medical first response, and it's been that way for years, and we're hopeful that we can keep a level of integration with this."

Berg explained that operating ambulances has become increasingly expensive. "It used to be that we could get a volunteer crew and an ambulance and put it all together and we would be well under $50 an hour in management.  Well, we're way over that today."  

"To have stop and starts on all the contracting processes was difficult," Berg continued.  "It was a lot of pressure.  It's a risk when you don't have a contract.  There's risk for the employees, for our services, how we can structure ourselves financially, and people don't like risk.  The way Alberta Health Services wants to run things, it's at a bare minimum.  It's a way of keeping costs at the lowest level."

"When you have an emergency you shouldn't be caring too much about costs at that point."

"It is often asked by the public 'Why are we keeping all that expensive equipment, why do we need all that manpower? We could use it for other things'," Berg said. "It is for the 5% of the time that there is an emergency in one or more peoples lives.  When that emergency arises, you need all the time and even more.  Because you can't afford not to."

Berg welcomes the creation of an Emergency Services Commission that will be relatively independent of Town and MD councils.  "We are in the first stage of a process that will probably take five years to create the final working commission," he explained.

"If we become a commission, we will have to advance that agreement to include to commission onto the agreement, and that will change a lot of things.  It will change bylaws that will have to be re-written, the involvement of the Emergency Management Agency.  How we actually coordinate things with them, fund them, and do administrative coverage... is going to be important."

"The decision making powers are still held by each municipality," he clarified.  "In an emergency, there are times you need those decision making powers on site."

"Emergencies are emergencies.  The organization has to be able to function on it's own and make big decisions."

Chief Cox elaborated on the kinds of emergencies that are common or possible in our area.  "It seems like every year, we have some kind of a high water event, fires are always a potential.  The town is reasonably secure, but as a regional service our municipality has a lot more at risk.  We also have two major transportation corridors (Highways 3 and 22) and the railway to consider," Cox continued.

Cox said we have 7 pipelines in the area that have to be considered as well, carrying methane, sour gas, sweet gas, and condensate.

"It's not an incident response, it is a community-wide event if we have an issue with one of those."

Transfers from Pincher Creek to other hospitals, particularly Calgary, consistently uses a large percentage of Pincher Creek Emergency Services time and ambulance resources.

New Pumper Truck coming

As a side note, Pincher Creek Emergency Services is anticipating the arrival of a new-to-us pumper truck, which may arrive in late October if all goes well.

"I go to Calgary on October the 10th to do a final inspection," said Chief Cox.  "If the truck passes final inspection we pay for it and it becomes our piece of equipment. At that point  I may do a final inspection to verify that the truck is safe to drive and that it meets all the criteria that we put into the order.  There may still be some ongoing work on it."

* Corrected for accuracy