City council directed administration to begin reviewing the feasibility of acquiring an additional 24-hour ambulance service for the Chestermere area, during the Oct. 18 council meeting.
Mayor Jeff Colvin began discussions with councillors around health care initiatives such as an additional ambulance and the possibility of opening walk-in clinics during the evenings and weekends.
“Chestermere has an ambulance now, which is exceptional, however, that ambulance can still be called away,” Colvin said. “What we’re looking for now, is to allow staff to look into these discussions further, dig into the funding model of the additional ambulance, and have discussions about walk-in clinics in Chestermere for the evenings and weekends.”
In discussions with the provincial government and the Minister of Health Jason Copping, Colvin and city administration are looking into the possibility of having a dedicated ambulance in addition to the 24-hour ambulance, which would be for residents in the Chestermere and Langdon area.
“The ambulance must be stored inside, that’s something that would need to be part of the conversation with staff and the full feasibility of the review. I think we can make it work, but we need to get staff to look into that, and make sure they do a proper feasibility review among current available storage and cost,” Colvin said. “What’s exciting, is in discussions with the ambulance providers, they believe our costs will be quite low.”
The ambulance service would be provided through a funding model, between the City of Chestermere, the provincial government, and Alberta Health Services (AHS), Colvin explained.
Colvin is also in discussions of opening walk-in clinics during the evenings and weekends to make them more accessible for Chestermere residents and using other professionals to facilitate some of the care, depending on the level of care.
“One of the concepts was using the existing infrastructure that’s available, talking to them about opening on the weekends and the evenings,” Colvin said. “This would be another potential investment with the City of Chestermere, and the province of Alberta, that would help get it started.”
City administration is now beginning work on a feasibility review regarding the possibility of adding a local ambulance service and expanding walk-in clinics times with the province and will report back to council with a cost and benefit analysis.
“Those discussions are really in their infancy. It’s a very tough subject,” Colvin said. “Until we get the feasibility study, we really can’t do much.”
