The perils of centralized services are well known, especially in rural communities.

Loss of autonomy, delayed services, job loss, lack of local knowledge all serve to create more headaches than the cost effectiveness of urban super centres.

And sometimes, it just makes no sense to fix something that isn’t broken.

Emergency dispatch is a serious matter in Jasper National Park.

Jasper is a special situation. Its remote mountain location, presence of Parks Canada and use of mountaintop repeater towers means its needs are quite different than the rest of the province. Parks Canada also has a shared agreement with EMS, Fire and British Columbia for the use of its repeater boxes.

According to EMS officials, the current system is working just fine in Jasper.

But now that Alberta Health and Parks Canada can’t come to an agreement on this sharing – the dispatch transition isn’t as easy as thought –  more tax dollars will be spent on duplicating an already effective service. Alberta Health will have to erect its own repeater boxes and operate on a separate channel.

This isn’t inexpensive work, especially in a ministry with a massive budget.

We understand that emergency services are going to be able to reach one another. Even if radio signals are down, satellite phones and other communication tools are available. Let’s not forget this, but by adding another step, another delay, valuable seconds could be lost. In emergency situations, this could prove fatal.

Parks Canada dispatch also has an intricate knowledge of the surrounding area. The farther calls are bounced, the greater the chance for confusion. The town of Jasper is already changing street names to help alleviate this problem, as fire dispatch has already had problems with several of the street names.

The local hospital has seen services move to the city, as even the facility manager shares duties in Hinton. Obstetrics were lost long ago, and we’ll wait and see how the potential loss of the RCMP traffic service will affect the town.

So for the HR cost savings of centralizing call centres, one hopes there isn’t a greater human cost. Rural communities need to protect their services in order to ensure the population tide flooding the cities doesn’t wash away the essentials of the community.