The union representing St. Albert's firefighters and EMS workers will not take a position on the current state of ambulance service in St. Albert until it sees more numbers, its president said Friday.
Warren Gresik, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 2130, said the union wants statistics on response times and how the peak-hour ambulance stationed at the Sturgeon Community Hospital is used compared to St. Albert's two full-time ambulances.
"I think the biggest thing from our perspective is we don't have the statistics," Gresik said. "It's difficult to form an opinion when you don't have statistics," he added.
Gresik said he read the Gazette's Feb. 8 story on local ambulance response statistics and the accompanying letter to the editor from Trevor Maslyk, executive director for EMS service in the north and Edmonton zones, but without having the statistics in front of him, he could not comment.
When asked if the union had heard anecdotal evidence from its members about the current state of ambulance response times in St. Albert, Gresik said again that the union wants to see some numbers.
"Our employees who work for the city choose to so we can serve the citizens of the community," he said. "We are professionals and if we are called upon to respond in other communities, we will do so in a professional fashion."
Ambulance service
Over the last month local officials have raised many concerns about the state of ambulance service in St. Albert, including longer response times, what the peak hour ambulance is used for, an increased number of calls outside of the city, an increased number of periods during which no ambulances are available and the increase in the number of fire trucks used to respond to EMS calls.
Both Mayor Nolan Crouse and fire chief Ray Richards have been vocal in their concerns and potential impacts on St. Albert residents.
"We applaud the mayor for his efforts and we support our administration and hopefully we collectively can work to a positive solution," Gresik said.
Gresik said he is looking forward to meeting soon to discuss the issue with the mayor, who has asked to meet with the union to talk about ambulance coverage.
"I think we need to sit down with all parties involved and digest the information provided in those statistics," Gresik said.
