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Edmonton suffers ambulance crunch " s, Y1 A$ ]. U+ a) H
Last updated Jan 31 2006 08:26 AM MST# ^/ T: G" L _- E* ]
CBC News $ M' O6 N+ l U1 X
There's been a big jump in the number of "red alerts" in Edmonton this year.1 Q) ?6 `( i( C a/ J! Q* U- I8 N. X
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"Red alert" is the Emergency Medical Services term for the situation when there are no available ambulances in the entire city.$ i" l$ b+ n9 O% z9 M6 @1 c5 g8 I
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Last week, a red alert led Capital Health to admit that hospitals can't keep up, meaning ambulances have to wait at emergency until the hospital can take the patient.
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EMS says there were 36 red alerts last year, and nine so far this year – including two Monday afternoon.
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Randy Littlechild, head of the union that represents paramedics, says things are getting worse.$ s1 a, a5 [9 a! E) E x; V
; t9 i4 }( T) `. s: _* Z"We're doing everything we can, but the system is falling apart – really and truly – it's not working," Littlechild says.
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' x& ^% V9 ~( u9 mHe says it has come to the point where there has to be an increase of rooms and beds in Edmonton hospitals.
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$ Y' |% d R+ c3 @" cCapital Health says it will look into making changes to that part of the system. |
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