As of April 1, the province of Alberta became responsible for ambulance services for the Municipality of Jasper.

The current contract with the province is two years in length and Associated Ambulance, the current service provider, has signed on to continue delivering ambulance services in and around the townsite. 

Director of Emergency Services Greg Van Tighem still has some concerns with the takeover, but is “trying to maintain a positive outlook,” he said. “We’re very fortunate right now that Associated Ambulance is very proactive and they work well with all the agencies in town and they’re diligent about maintaining that high level of service,” said Van Tighem.

“But again, my concern is that come April 1 when the province takes over the management of the contracts and the services... that maybe down the road that we might see that level of service deteriorate.”

Van Tighem attended information sessions on the takeover over the last few years and in each case he was reassured that the level of service would not deteriorate in the future, or his concerns were ignored. 

Municipal Manager George Krefting who is also privy to the intricacies of takeover initiative, said “it’s not the province discussing with us how it’s going to happen,” but simply that it’s happening and the municipality will no longer have control. “We’ve got lots of questions, but no answers,” said Van Tighem.

The province’s move towards a more one-size-fits-all system may not impact Jasper in the next two years, but after that, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen. According to Krefting, the municipality doesn’t “know what the province is going to do in two years time... It’s out of our hands, we don’t have authority in that area now.”

The new centrally-based, streamlined system may not take into account Jasper’s unique location in the middle of a national park. “We’re a tourist community where we have an influx of potentially 20,000 extra people through town in a day,” said Van Tighem. 

“We’ve got a higher level of infrastructure that supplies the tourist industry, we’ve got a major railway going through, we’ve got a major highway going through, we’ve got all sorts of activities that surround the community that are high-risk activities, so in my mind, we need a higher level of service.” 

Van Tighem is concerned that at the end of the two-year contract, the province will reevaluate the level of service Jasper requires based on the town’s population compared with other communities. 

To illustrate this point, Van Tighem said that Hinton, a town with twice Jasper’s permanent population, has two BLS (Basic Life Support) ambulances and one ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance, while Jasper has two ALS units and one backup BLS unit. “After this two-year period, the province might look at us and say, ‘You know, you don’t need that, you just need one ALS’, and they might pull one out,” said Van Tighem.  

Another concern for Van Tighem is the infill system the province is moving forward with. In theory it may be a good idea, but only for communities that are in close proximity to others with ambulance detachments. “We’re sort of at the end of the road here... we’ve only got a connection in one direction, not four like most communities,” said Van Tighem. “The concern is that if both Jasper and Hinton units are simultaneously taxed, what will be the result?”

Concerns for Van Tighem and Krefting are predominantly long-term in nature with services remaining at the status quo until the end of the contract. Long-term viability of quality ambulance service is also a concern for Paul Kennedy, operations manager for Associated Ambulance. “We don’t really know what the long-term future for ambulances is going to be because we haven’t been given any long-term direction,” said Kennedy, adding that a gag order is part of the contract signed with the province. 

Though it is not known what will happen at the end of two years, “we’re going to be diligent and we’re going to keep on asking the questions and if I have to, I’ll lobby different levels of government just to make sure that... we still maintain our proper level of service for Jasper,” said Van Tighem.