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You have nothing to fear from central EMS dispatching

My name is Brad Higgins. I am reaching out with respect to the EMS 911 dispatch.
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My name is Brad Higgins. I am reaching out with respect to the EMS 911 dispatch.

As a former Alberta Health Services EMS 911 dispatcher, I know about the job.

The mayors claiming that AHS taking over EMS 911 dispatch will increase wait times and “people will die,” according to Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, is by far the biggest line of BS in the entire article.

AHS puts high demands on the EMS 911 dispatchers, and they meet those demands each and every time.

The location (and employer) of the person answering a 911 call has zero bearing on dispatch times. In an average city running a dispatch centre, you’ll have between four and six people at any given time available to answer 911 calls.

So what happens if seven people call? Or more? With AHS dispatch centres, you’ll have three full centres, each with trained personnel ready to answer calls, which means less chance of an overload on the system.

And as for dispatch times, as soon as a 911 call is coded, an ambulance is dispatched.

AHS does offer a better dispatching system.

And I am speaking as a former AHS EMS 911 dispatcher and someone who has had to call 911 for an ambulance.

Brad Higgins, Rimbey