Edmonton Paramedics

05/17/2026

In case anyone missed it, the new brand identity was unveiled for Alberta EMS last week. We now have a new name, new logo and new uniforms. Unfortunately, underneath all this fanfare and excitement is a depressing reality that we continue to live in.

So far this month:

- another patient died in an Emergency Department waiting room

- an Edmonton ambulance took 16 minutes to respond to a cardiac arrest because there was no closer unit.

- Our fellow paramedics at several integrated fire departments are facing the threat of layoffs due to EMS funding decisions

- Edmonton Paramedics continue to face unrelenting pressure to leave patients in hospital waiting rooms to get back on the road

- Overall morale continues to be low as paramedics struggle with a crushing workload, lack of support, and lack of resources

Let's get real about why none of this is being addressed.

Our entire public healthcare system is relying on expensive consultants who don't know anything about healthcare.

Ernst and Young (EY) and Deloitte have been heavily involved in the healthcare restructuring since the beginning. We have paid them millions of Alberta tax payer dollars to produce nothing but costly disasters for our healthcare system.

EY is responsible for the recommendation to privatize lab services with Dynalife, which cost our province over $100 million dollars before Dynalife went out of business

EY is also currently heavily involved in the EMS modernization to the extent that they are actually over seeing the changes as opposed to just making recommendations.

EMS managers are often unable to answer questions about the plans for modernization because they aren't involved in it.

Deloitte was responsible for consulting on the recent EMS rebranding.

Several paramedics have already come forward saying that they felt the Deloitte focus groups did not listen to their input on branding and it seemed like the Deloitte consultants already had their minds made up before the focus groups were conducted.

Deloitte is also currently under investigation for using AI to create false evidence to support their recommendations to clients. They clearly continued to use AI for their promotional videos of the Alberta EMS rebranding, which led to embarrassing spelling errors and inaccuracies. One has to wonder if Deloitte relied on AI for other aspects of the EMS rebranding.

These are just a few examples. Money is being spent on everything except actually supporting paramedics and improving healthcare capacity.

Les, the real world doesn't care about how cool you look on LinkedIn announcing the release of a new branding with a mouthful of corporate consultant buzz words.

Paramedics never wanted a new logo and a new brand.

Things paramedics actually want:

- Investment in expanding frontline resources to meet increasing call volumes

- Having real rest periods and going home on time

- A healthcare system that doesn't normalize leaving sick patients in hospital hallways and waiting rooms

- Abandoning the expensive consultants and engaging with real paramedics to create meaningful change

It's time to prioritize our patients, healthcare workers, and healthcare system over increasing the profits of expensive consulting firms.

03/07/2026

Just because we haven’t posted in a while doesn’t mean things are improving. Low ambulance availability and long response times continue to persist.

The recent provincial budget also didn’t include any funding for improving EMS capacity.

On the bright side, our new name and logo will be released soon.

02/05/2026

Solidarity.

Edmonton Paramedics stand with our fellow paramedics from the Saskatoon Paramedic Association and Ambulance Paramedics of BC as they struggle to negotiate fair and progressive contracts with their employers.

This further demonstrates a disturbing trend across the country of employers treating paramedics with contempt and disrespect throughout the bargaining process.

EMS is facing a crisis across the country and patients are suffering as a result. Employers engaging in bad faith bargaining and refusing to properly invest in their staff will only make things worse.

01/25/2026

Just over 60% staffed this morning and already barely any ambulances available.

Emergency Departments are still overflowing and filled with patients that should be admitted to the hospital.

Meanwhile, we have 4 health ministers passing this crisis around like a hot potato refusing to acknowledge it.

01/21/2026

Healthcare capacity issues are not just limited to hospitals.

Edmonton has seen monthly 911 call volumes increase by 1500-2000 calls per month when compared to 2023. January of 2026 is already shaping up to be one of our busiest months in recent memory.

Despite this increased demand, only 2 new ambulances have been added to Edmonton since 2023. That means the increased call volume has been predominantly absorbed at the expense of paramedic's physical and psychological health. Our sky high disabling injury rate and retention issues serve as proof that the current workload is not sustainable.

The rest of Alberta has also seen limited additions of new ambulances as well. At a certain point we need to accept that increasing capacity is a necessity to respond to increasing call volumes.

We want to see a commitment in the upcoming provincial budget to invest in expanding capacity throughout the healthcare system. This includes more care spaces in hospitals but also more ambulances on the road to ensure we can get every Albertan the Right Care at the Right Time in the Right Place

01/19/2026

Please take the time to read all of these documented examples of patients suffering due to lack of capacity in our hospitals. Keep in mind that all of these examples are from the first 2 weeks of 2026 and only represent a fraction of the suffering.

Contrary to popular belief, the Emergency Departments aren’t overflowing with patients that should have gone to a medicenter or stayed home. They are overflowing with very sick patients who need care. These patients are real human beings with real loved ones. It’s only a matter of time before it’s you or someone you care about that suffers an adverse outcome due to the lack of capacity in our healthcare system.

This is why paramedics keep waiting in hospital hallways. Because every inch of care space is occupied and every nurse has a full assignment (including hallway patients). Paramedics bring patients in faster than they can be admitted to the hospital. Eventually the Emergency Department can’t absorb any more EMS patients and paramedics have to wait again. The Emergency Department is the end of a very long traffic jam within the hospital as patients wait for space upstairs.

If you want to improve EMS availability then start addressing the capacity issues instead of timing how long it takes paramedics to hand over care. Fix the capacity issues and the EMS offload issue will fix itself.

As a reminder, the planned new south side hospital in Edmonton was cancelled by the provincial government in 2024.

01/12/2026

01/09/2026

This is the latest example of the current EMS crisis.

A Good Samaritan came across an injured man when it was -19 outside crawling on the ground with a broken leg after being assaulted. No ambulance was available so the Good Samaritan transported the injured patient to the hospital in his own vehicle.

Situations like this are happening multiple times
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

911 calls being stacked in a queue waiting for an ambulance to be assigned. Everything up to and including cardiac arrests having delayed responses.

Calling 911 for an Ambulance shouldn't feel like playing a game of chance. Healthcare isn't a casino game.

The government and EMS management will continue to insist that things are improving. They are not.

Paramedics can only do so much with the current resources. We need to invest in increasing capacity to see real improvements.

01/08/2026

We can disagree on the cause but we should all be aligned on the solution.

When the healthcare system, including EMS, cannot keep up with demand, the only meaningful solution is to increase capacity.

If you have a full bucket, it doesn't do you any good to restructure that bucket into 7 smaller buckets that each have their own CEO but can still only cumulatively hold the same amount as the original bucket.

At a certain point you need a bigger bucket. Increasing capacity needs to be a priority. More long term care facilities, more hospitals, more ambulances and more staff.

DOCTORS CALL ON THE ALBERTA GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN OUR HOSPITALS. CALL YOUR MLA AND DON'T HOLD BACK.

HERE ARE THE KEY QUOTES:

Doctors working in Edmonton’s major hospitals are calling on the Alberta government to declare a state of emergency because there is no more room to safely accept patients.

The call comes shortly after the much-publicized death of Prashant Sreekumar, who died on Dec. 22 after spending eight hours in the emergency room at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital. On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail learned that he was actually one of three people who died in the Grey Nuns ER that day.

***

Paul Parks, president-elect of the emergency physicians section of the Alberta Medical Association, said emergency and internal medicine physicians in Edmonton have exhausted all options to meet patient demand. He said the situation is putting patients at serious risk of harm, which prompted the call to action.
“We’re operating in disaster mode everyday,” Dr. Parks said. “We’re at this point where the only way that we can safely take care of new patients coming in is we have to activate an emergency plan.”

***

Mr. Sreekumar, a 44-year-old father of three, died from suspected cardiac arrest. Covenant Health, a publicly funded Catholic health care provider that operates Grey Nuns, said in a statement on Wednesday that two others died on Dec. 22 in the Grey Nuns ER “while receiving active care.”

***

“Calls for a ‘state of emergency’ are misguided and would add nothing to what is already being done,” Ms. McKee said, adding that “comparisons to the pandemic emergency are rhetorical and not based on evidence.”

***

“I have never seen it this bad in 35 years of front-line medical practice in the emergency department,” said Dr. Sherman, a former provincial politician.

HERE'S THE FULL STORY:

Doctors working in Edmonton’s major hospitals are calling on the Alberta government to declare a state of emergency because there is no more room to safely accept patients.

The call comes shortly after the much-publicized death of Prashant Sreekumar, who died on Dec. 22 after spending eight hours in the emergency room at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Community Hospital. On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail learned that he was actually one of three people who died in the Grey Nuns ER that day.

Hospitals in Edmonton have been struggling for years to keep up with patient demand, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. But added pressures, such as rapid population growth, underfunding and the strain of alternative level of care, or ALC, patients, have pushed them to the brink.

Patients are designated as ALC when they no longer require hospital care but still occupy a hospital bed until they can be transferred to another setting, such as a long-term care home.

Edmonton also serves as a referral centre for patients from all of Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories who need specialized treatment, a catchment area that is significantly larger than Calgary’s. The annual influenza season – one that is shaping up to be the worst in years – is adding to the strain.

Paul Parks, president-elect of the emergency physicians section of the Alberta Medical Association, said emergency and internal medicine physicians in Edmonton have exhausted all options to meet patient demand. He said the situation is putting patients at serious risk of harm, which prompted the call to action.
“We’re operating in disaster mode everyday,” Dr. Parks said. “We’re at this point where the only way that we can safely take care of new patients coming in is we have to activate an emergency plan.”

Mr. Sreekumar, a 44-year-old father of three, died from suspected cardiac arrest. Covenant Health, a publicly funded Catholic health care provider that operates Grey Nuns, said in a statement on Wednesday that two others died on Dec. 22 in the Grey Nuns ER “while receiving active care.”

Covenant Health did not provide any additional details and said it was not permitted to comment on the types of care the patients received.

The Alberta government is investigating the circumstances of Mr. Sreekumar’s death. It is unclear if it will extend to the other deaths.

A state of emergency can be declared under Alberta’s Public Health Act and would grant broad but temporary powers to protect public health, allowing, for example, the allocation of emergency funding and the ability to co-ordinate the delivery of health services. Former premier Jason Kenney declared states of emergency twice during COVID.

Dr. Parks said, in practical terms, this could mean opening up beds in other wards, transferring patients from north of Edmonton to Calgary, funding additional staff and beds or postponing surgeries, which he said is an “action of last resort.”

“But, in order for us to take that next really sick person with influenza or pneumonia or stroke, we have to use surgical beds,” he said.

Maddison McKee, press secretary to Primary and Preventative Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange, linked the “exceptionally busy” hospital system to the flu season. She said measures taken to ease pressure, such as cancelling some scheduled surgeries, are in line with past winters and have been required on a limited scale.

“Calls for a ‘state of emergency’ are misguided and would add nothing to what is already being done,” Ms. McKee said, adding that “comparisons to the pandemic emergency are rhetorical and not based on evidence.”

Dr. Parks said Edmonton physicians have been asking for help, but restructuring of the health system under Premier Danielle Smith’s government has caused “constant chaos.” He said many front-line providers are “paralyzed” because they don’t know who to bring their concerns to, or are scared of professional repercussions if they do so.

The province has replaced Alberta Health Services, which used to be the province’s sole health authority, with four health agencies (Acute Care Alberta, Primary Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta and Assisted Living Alberta).

A doctor working in one of Edmonton’s inner-city hospitals said patients are getting stuck in precarious positions. The Globe and Mail is not naming the doctor because of concerns that speaking publicly would affect their employment.

They said patients are gridlocked between the ER and inpatient units. For example, people who arrive by ambulance are being offloaded into hallways and patients already admitted are on stretchers in the ER because there is no room on the wards.

Physicians in all five of the city’s major hospitals can no longer keep up with the volume and have said no to accepting patients from outside of Edmonton in recent weeks – though sometimes they have no choice.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Parks said provincial data showed 60 patients were admitted and 13 others were pending consultation at the University of Alberta Hospital, which only has 65 official beds. Similarly, at Misericordia Community Hospital, which has 55 beds, there were 52 people admitted and 14 pending consultation. Other hospitals were in similar positions.

At the university hospital, he said two patients offloaded in the EMS waiting area, who require additional care and movement to a ward, had been there for 70 and 65 hours respectively. Another patient at Misericordia was at the 43-hour mark.

Raj Sherman, an emergency physician at WestView Health Centre in Stony Plain, west of Edmonton, said sick patients who live minutes away from Edmonton hospitals are being diverted to WestView, which is already packed with patients from the area and lacks specialized services.

“I have never seen it this bad in 35 years of front-line medical practice in the emergency department,” said Dr. Sherman, a former provincial politician.