Support is coming for those in the Foothills affected by issues with Alberta EMS.
EMS Safeline, a provincial grassroots advocacy group, is holding what have been dubbed as rolling vigils to raise awareness on EMS response times and related issues, particularly in municipalities surrounding Calgary and Edmonton.
The group will be holding events in Okotoks and Diamond Valley on Saturday, Aug. 24 to show support and appreciation to both patients and paramedics negatively affected by the ongoing Emergency Medical Services crisis, according to Safeline founder Ali Morrison.
"We've been working for three-and-a-half years trying to help paramedics who are really, really suffering, and now we're going town to town to reach out to the people who have suffered great losses due to the fact that their EMS are routinely being called out into Calgary and other places," she said.
"We want to reach out to people who have suffered losses due to the lack of trucks in their community and we want to connect them with the paramedics who are also suffering."
As an EMS advocate, Morrison has taken the concerns of those affected by these issues to the government on numerous occasions, including during meetings with Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange and former parliamentary secretary for EMS reform RJ Sigurdson.
While data indicates that EMS response times in Okotoks have been on the upswing recently, Morrison said much work needs to be done.
"Okotoks is one of the communities that has continually been hardest hit," she said, referring to a lack of ambulances and delayed response times.
The rolling vigils will be a safe space for people to share their stories.
"We're just getting a space for people to speak of how their lives have been changed, and then honour the people that are suffering and hopefully connect some people to their local paramedics who also feel acutely the fact that they're not able to do their job all the time and not through any fault of their own," said Morrison.
"We know that those who have lost loved ones or overcome injury because the ambulance couldn't come in time, they're not wanting to speak out," she said. "It's very hard for them to speak out and so we want to be able to provide a space for them to speak."
On Saturday, Aug. 24, Safeline will be hosting vigils at 11 a.m. at the Turner Valley Legion in Diamond Valley and at 1:30 p.m. at the Okotoks Public Library.
Additional vigils in Alberta are being held in the following locations:
Cochrane — Mitford Park stage area, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m.
Airdrie — Jensen Park gazebo, Aug. 31 at 3 p.m.
Olds — Community Connection Centre, Sept. 14 at 2 p.m.
Carstairs — Carstairs Library, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m.
Learn more about Safeline on its Facebook page.
