The Alberta EMS system is totally fine. Everything is fine. In fact, if you listen to AHS, it’s actually thriving. Ignore the ambulance shortages, the burnout, the 244 relocation requests in a week, and the fact that paramedics are fleeing this job like it’s on fire. That’s all just a minor inconvenience! Nothing to see here, folks, unless you count the paramedics sprinting for the exits.
But wait! AHS Communications wants you to know that we are the real problem. That’s right. Not the fact that Edmonton was begging surrounding communities to send ambulances. Not the part where they couldn’t even bribe paramedics into working overtime at double their wage! Not the horrifying response times that would make a snail look like a speed demon the week after they said nothing to see here. No, no the real issue is that we had the audacity to talk about it. How dare we.
They even threw out the classic, and we are paraphrasing 'this website is just some angry nobodies venting political views' line. Aww, bless their hearts. If only they had spent as much energy fixing the EMS crisis as they do on PR spin, maybe Edmonton wouldn’t have been down to 75% staffing in the middle of a public safety meltdown. But hey, at least they’re consistent: deny, deflect, and then quietly send out an SOS when everything collapses.
And speaking of collapses, we’ve just dropped a good chunk of change on a fresh batch of FOIP requests, because digging up the truth isn’t free, and AHS sure isn’t footing the bill. That said, we’ve got some serious stuff in the pipeline, locked and loaded before summer brings a whole new wave of disasters to uncover. We’re not running on empty, but if you want to help keep the momentum going, any donation, big or small, would be hugely appreciated. If you enjoy watching us dismantle their nonsense one factual beatdown at a time, please consider donating to our GiveSendGo (link). Every dollar helps us keep the heat on, fund sticker campaigns, and make sure everyone sees just how deep this rabbit hole of incompetence really goes, and makes "leadership" irate!
Alright, buckle up. This follow up is going to be a ride. Oh! and dear AHS EMS this one is going to be ugly because you insulted us! So please don't call us non-credible and anonymous again and we wont do follow ups that sting so bad.
One of our main goals with our Edmonton post was to hold AHS EMS accountable for their catastrophic failures. And let’s be honest, no matter where you look in this province, the EMS system is circling the drain. Across all five of AHS’s zones, you’ll find failures so massive they should come with a “Viewer Discretion Advised” warning. But don’t worry! AHS has that covered with some Olympic-level gaslighting, because what’s a crumbling 'healthcare' (Public safety) system without a good PR spin?
So imagine our absolute shock (read: none at all) when Alberta Health Services Communications graced us with this gem in response to our first media contact:
“The website in question seems to be a forum for staff or others to anonymously vent political views and insults toward their own management. It is not a credible source; much of the specific information presented is inaccurate.”
Ah yes, the classic 'It’s just a bunch of angry nobodies' defence. Solid strategy. Except, fun fact: We do not operate in the shadows. The people behind www.wheresmyambulance.com have gone on podcasts, given news interviews, and oh yeah AHS has literally threatened to sue us directly. Heres some pictures! Try again.
Moreover, we do NOT allow active duty Paramedics to work with us because of the liability that this would incur for them. If they want to submit things to us? Sure! Donate to us?Absolutely! Accept our stickers, and soon T-shirts? Definetly! However, directly contributing is off the table, so to suggest there are people here insulting their own management is false. Sorry AHS, try again, your credibility is already off to a great start! We are long retired, they're not our management anymore!
Never the less, as we mentioned we went to the media with this wild theory that Edmonton was deep in a staffing crisis, and AHS EMS bent over backwards to tell the media we were full of it. Let's dive deeper into the week following the insults thrown at www.wheresmyambulance.com . Mere days after their insults, they were out begging contract providers and surrounding communities, Leduc, St. Albert, Strathcona County, to send ambulances to Edmonton. Fascinating. Your first clue that we were likely not the ones full of it!
And a quote from a CTV news story:
The Cities of Leduc and St. Albert confirmed with CTV News Edmonton that they have also seen a recent rise in the number of calls to help with Edmonton EMS, with Leduc noting it’s been “more than average” over the past few months.
A few months!? Strange, isn’t it? You’d think if staffing was as amazing as AHS claimed, they could just call up Edmonton Zone paramedics for some overtime. But no. Over the next week, AHS could barely scrape together a 7.5% overtime utilization rate to properly staff its own ambulances. A little odd, don’t you think? Especially for an organization supposedly dealing with a “call volume surge.” but relatively good staffing as they would have you believe. They even sent out messages to Paramedics the province over asking for help, but they'd have Albertans believe everything is fine.
But don’t take our word for it. CTV News Edmonton covered the situation in “Edmonton EMS ‘under pressure,’ increasing calls for outside help” (link). The article lays it all out—AHS’s memo to staff admitted ambulance services were “under pressure” because hospitals were backed up, leading to higher-than-normal workloads. Even contract paramedics were called in to cover Edmonton. Meanwhile, paramedics and union leaders pointed out the real issue: burnout and short staffing.
So, AHS, which is it? A fully staffed, thriving EMS system? Or a struggling disaster so desperate for ambulances that surrounding communities have to bail you out?
Even after sending out a province-wide SOS, texting AHS EMS paramedics everywhere to come work overtime in Edmonton, and roping in a private contractor (Associated Ambulance), they still had to log 244 relocation requests in a week!
TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR.
Even after pillaging ambulances from surrounding communities, they still couldn't keep up. It was that bad. And just for fun, let’s circle back to this being days after AHS EMS got through telling CTV News that www.wheresmyambulance.com “is not credible.” Yeah, sure, because nothing screams credibility like publicly denying a crisis one day and then setting off emergency flares the next. Real good for staff trust and moral! Hope you guys liked your stickers, and Edmonton EMS "leadership" likes them more.
So, according to AHS EMS, the problem isn’t the ambulances they can’t staff, and it’s definitely not their beloved toxic management style. Nope! It’s the hospitals!
Now, don’t get us wrong, we know the hospitals are a disaster. Our DMs are full of Edmonton Zone nurses confirming just how nightmarish things are. If AHS EMS wants to blame the hospitals they could have a solid argument for it based on what these nurses tell us! But surely their own staffing levels must be top-tier, right? Right?!
Let’s check their own numbers:
Feb 25 – 86% staffing
Feb 26 – 83% staffing
Feb 27 – 85% staffing
Feb 28 – 84% staffing
Mar 1 – 82% staffing
Mar 2 – 75% staffing (yikes!)
Mar 3 – 82% staffing
They even brought on 14 extra Ambulances that they could not maintain staffing for! Uh oh....
Not even once did they hit 90% and on average sat at 82%. We thought this was just a hospital problem? Guess AHS EMS wasn't exactly being... truthful. Colour us shocked! AND THEY SAID WE WERE NOT CREDIBLE! Whats the saying about people who live in glass houses?
AHS EMS wants you to believe they’re running a top-tier system, right up there with the best in the world. But let’s check their actual response times and see if they live up to the hype.
For reference, elite EMS systems—like Seattle’s—aim for 4-8 minutes for critical calls. The golden standard in emergency medicine says you should be on scene ASAP, because minutes literally mean the difference between life and death. So, let’s see how AHS EMS is doing with all their expert leadership and world-class management:
Alpha calls (low priority) – Over half an hour (perfect if you wanted to catch up on your will-writing).
Charlie calls (serious but not immediately life-threatening) – 18.5 minutes (hope your medical emergency comes with a free Sudoku book).
Delta calls (life-threatening but not cardiac arrest) – Over 10 minutes (just enough time to contemplate your life choices).
Echo calls (cardiac arrest) – 7.5 minutes (hey, at least they’re making it to those on time—most of the time).
So the average response time that week? Just shy of 18 minuets in the city!!! Oh, and just to add a cherry on top of this disaster sundae—AHS EMS definitely DIDN’T co-author a study with the University of Calgary and McGill that concluded the MPDS dispatch system (which determines whether a call is Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, or Echo) is absolute garbage at predicting patient outcomes. Nope! That never happened. And they certainly wouldn’t keep using that system even after they helped prove it’s unreliable… right?
You’ll notice that we specifically asked for response times for transport-capable units. But of course, AHS will screech, “Aha! Gotcha! Our response times are actually much better!”
Alright, AHS EMS, climb up on that soapbox and scream it until you’re blue in the face, then catch this hand grenade, courtesy of us, and a brave Edmonton Zone medic!
Good Day Mr. Sharpe, I read about AHS wanting us to focus on response times. I’m sure you’re already aware, but the response times they’re touting are propped up by “Non-transport” trucks. I work in Edmonton, and quite often our PRUs (Paramedic Response Units), which are single-member SUVs, will be left on scene for 45 minutes to an hour. So yes, the PRU may arrive within their magical 15-minute window, but if the patient is actually sick, they still might wait much longer for transport. We used to have a manager who gave a talk at every required training day. In one of those sessions, the manager said, “The PRUs are there to stop the clock. That is their role. We all know that.” He never hid the fact that PRUs were put in place specifically to manipulate response time data. He also admitted he didn’t care if they actually provided care as long as they stopped the clock. (That manager, by the way, has since been fired.) In fairness, some PRU paramedics do their best, but the reality is brutal. I’ve personally been on PRU, responding, assessing, treating, and writing the entire patient care report before a transport-capable unit even arrived. I have run a cardiac arrest on my own for 20 minutes (with fire personnel) before a transport unit finally showed up. It’s still common to hear dispatch tell PRUs, “We don’t have a transport unit to send you. We’ll let you know when we do.” If you really want to expose the absurdity of this system, post on social media and ask: “PRUs, how long have you waited for a transport truck?” I guarantee you’ll get some wild stories. Thanks for keeping this anonymous.
This gives us a great idea, there are lots of PRU's around the province! Email us your stories and if we get enough of them we will post them un-redacted in a seperate blog post! Ambulanceman4@gmail.com
According to AHS they'd also have us believe that this is a yearly trend and it happens everywhere. Okay? Well, if that is the case then Calgary and Edmonton should be facing similar situations right? A viewer sent us this and gives us the tale of two cities! The pictures were taken at the same time!
Okay, so maybe we hit a little too close to home, hence the weak, flailing response (doesn't mean we're not pissed off though!). When AHS EMS can’t even come up with a halfway decent excuse for the media and instead decides that we are the PR problem (because calling out the truth is apparently a branding issue), you know they’re scrambling. Instead of countering us with facts (because, well, that would be inconvenient), they’re doubling down and trying to paint us as liars, despite the fact that everything we’ve said is provable, easily checked, and based on their own data.
We’re getting a strong whiff of burnt credibility and a few desperate liars over in the ranks of AHS EMS. And you know what they say about being over target, right? That’s when you start taking the most flak. Maybe that is why they came at us so badly.
“The claim about Edson in particular is incorrect. Of the 41 times Edson paramedics were called, 40 were for Evansburg, which is within the outer perimeter of the Edmonton Zone. Only one relocation to Edmonton occurred, and it was an error that was canceled within seconds.”
Ah, so Edson crews weren’t in Edmonton that much—just getting shipped around like Uber drivers for Evansburg instead. And that one Edmonton flex? A “whoopsie” that was immediately canceled? Right. Nothing screams “well-functioning system” like dispatch errors and desperate justifications, are they conveniently ignoring the conga line of flexing using their 'bump' method between Edson and Edmonton to get that one extra Ambulance to the city?
“The key measure of EMS performance is response times. We’re working hard to get ambulances to patients who need them faster, and making progress.”
Oh, are you? Because according to your own numbers, the “progress” in Edmonton looks like shaving a whopping 2.6 minutes off response times in two years, still nowhere near the 12-minute target. But hey, at this rate, you might hit that goal sometime before the next ice age. More on their abysmal response times later! But they're not sitting at that 12 minuet target or near it!
“Since December 2019, AHS EMS staffing in the Edmonton Zone has increased by 19.3 per cent, with 744 new hires: 488 casual, 250 full-time, and six part-time positions.”
Right, because throwing a pile of casual employees into the mix, many of whom leave within months, according to the messages we get from front line staff, totally fixes the crisis. But let’s not talk about how many experienced paramedics quit during that same period, right?
Now, were we wrong? Had Edmonton somehow miraculously escaped the staffing crisis plaguing every other AHS zone? AHS sure wanted everyone to believe that. They tried to smother our claims with the usual “You’re not credible because you didn’t count casuals upgrading to full-time” argument. So, naturally, we did what we do best: started digging. Because if AHS wants to cherry-pick stats, we’ll just bring all the numbers to the table and watch them squirm.
Alright, let’s roll up our sleeves and get into AHS’s very official numbers, the ones they practically climbed onto a soapbox to scream about. “NO! We are actually doing much better! And if you don’t highlight THESE numbers, your blog is NOT CREDIBLE!”
Oh, don’t worry, AHS. We hear you loud and clear. Let’s take a look at what you’re so proud of.
So, what do we have? Since 2019, a total of 494 casual employees in Edmonton have “upgraded” to full-time. That sounds impressive, right? Until you look a little closer.
Of those 494 upgrades, only 218 went into regular, permanent positions. That’s 44%. The remaining 276? Slapped into temporary positions, making up a solid 56% of these so-called “upgrades.”
Translation: AHS is boasting about staffing stability while more than half of these full-time "jobs" come with an expiration date. Nothing says “strong workforce” like a system built on revolving-door employment, right?
But hey, let’s not stop there. Let’s talk about why these temporary positions exist in the first place. When a paramedic gets injured on or off the job their position is temporarily backfilled if they’re off for more than 90 days. So, how many of these upgrades are just covering for paramedics who were literally broken by the job? Well 276 or over half the numbers they're so incredibly proud of.
This isn’t a staffing solution, it’s just a fancy way to shuffle bodies around while hoping no one notices. But don’t worry, AHS, we noticed. Let’s keep digging.
Oh, this is rich. Let’s break it down real slow, just in case AHS leadership is struggling with basic arithmetic. Since 2019, 490 paramedics in Edmonton have been injured and are off work for over 90 days. Meanwhile, AHS is patting itself on the back for upgrading 276 casual paramedics to full-time… to cover for 490 paramedics who are or were off on injury.
So let’s do the math, we don’t have to embarrass AHS too badly, but they did attack our credibility so I guess we must. The numbers are already screaming “this is a disaster” louder than we ever could but in case you were wondering they only covered 56% of their staff off on injury, but sure, AHS, go ahead and keep selling this as a huge success. Maybe the next job these people will have is with the Fire department, that place where so many of their staff quit and run too. There you can explain how covering a five-alarm fire with a garden hose is an innovative firefighting strategy.
Speaking of the Fire department! We have the great exodus because nothing screams “healthy workplace” like an army of paramedics bolting for the fire department, police service, or literally anywhere that isn’t AHS EMS. But hey, let’s not generalize, not all paramedics are fleeing Edmonton. Just 518 of them since 2019. You know, a casual mass departure.
That includes 122 resignations, 14 retirements, and 382 full-timers who noped out into casual positions because why have stability when you can live in scheduling limbo instead. I guess being able to look at a managerial boondoggle and saying "I don't think I want to go to work today" matters when management is this incompetent?
Now, how did AHS fix this? Did they create a sustainable workforce plan? Address the root causes of burnout? Hahaha, no. They simply raided their own casual pool, slapped 218 paramedics with a full-time label, and called it a day. So, to summarize: 518 paramedics left. AHS covered 218 of those spots. That’s a 42% success rate, which, in most places, would be considered a catastrophic failure, but in AHS math, apparently qualifies as progress. Oof, not a good look, if only AHS EMS wasn't already so prone to failure and utter incompetence!
Don’t worry though, AHS had an explanation for this disaster when they spoke to the media to kill the story we gave to media outlets. Was it too soon to be calling them incompetent? Well, let’s examine what they actually said:
“Whenever possible, AHS prioritizes full-time hires, though temporary full-time and casual positions often serve as entry points for new employees covering staff leaves. Many paramedics also value the flexibility of casual roles as they navigate different life stages. Since 2022, additional frontline resources have improved emergency and inter-facility workflows in the Edmonton Zone. The 382 full-time and part-time paramedics who transferred to casual status between 2019 and 2024 are not included in the 488 new casual hires, as those were external to AHS. However, during that same period, 494 casual paramedics transitioned to full-time or part-time positions.
Ah yes, the classic AHS strategy—a heaping pile of word salad with a side of verbal diarrhea. We love a good PR smokescreen, but this one? Chef’s kiss—a masterpiece of nonsense. But hey, thanks for bringing up IFT workflows, AHS EMS! Gave us a perfect excuse to circle back and see how that disaster is unfolding. So, what does happen when AHS EMS contracts out IFT services to companies that hire from the same shrinking paramedic pool they themselves are bleeding dry?
Well, shockingly (to absolutely no one except, apparently, AHS EMS), you get staffing shortages across the board. Not just in Edmonton, but Calgary too. Who could have possibly predicted that if you siphon from the same empty well, you’ll still come up dry?
But don’t worry, folks! This definitely wasn’t an oversight on AHS EMS’s part. It’s not like we’ve ever heard stories of them bullying their contract providers for failing to deliver services that AHS EMS can’t even maintain themselves... Oh wait. Yes, we have.
Now back to that career flexibility nonsense! Take a workforce implosion and dress it up like career flexibility! According to them, paramedics aren’t fleeing, they’re just “navigating different life stages.” What a poetic way to say, "We made working here so unbearable that hundreds of paramedics would rather gamble on unstable casual positions than stick around full-time." What do you call gaslighting with sprinkles on top? Well It's still gaslighting! So come with us down memory lane, lets see if their external hiring is going to go the distance and make up for their short falls now that we are properly examining the facts according to AHS!
So our temporary positions are going to bolstered by an extra 194 Paramedics. Let’s break this down further shall we? So, our temporary positions are getting an extra 194 paramedics to join the 276 already slotted in, all to cover those 490 injuries. HEY! That only leaves 20 vacant positions due to injuries! Someone pop the champagne! But wait what else do we have here?
AHS proudly boasts about 60 permanent hires to go along with 218 casual-to-permanent upgrades—so, in theory, they’re trying to cover 518 vacancies (because people are running for the exits). But here’s the kicker: their entire “solution” boils down to just 278 people.
So, let’s recap:
Casual-to-permanent upgrades: 218
External full-time hires: 60
Total attempted replacements: 278
Total people who left: 518
That leaves 240 paramedic positions completely unfilled.
And before AHS tries their usual “but we’re improving” schtick, let’s put that 240-paramedic shortfall into real-world numbers: That’s 120 fewer ambulances on the road.
But hey, at least we almost covered the injured paramedics?
You know what really fries our circuits? We did the math. We double-checked it. We had a second set of eyes scrutinize it. Hell, we even fed the numbers to Grok, and we keep landing on the same terrifying conclusion: According to AHS EMS’s own stats, Edmonton has 240 vacant spots. Though their self reported numbers clock in at 107 as of December 2024. Worse, because it always gets worse, our data is right from FOIP requests that AHS EMS sends out to us; however, AHS EMS puts on town halls for Paramedics and we cant make the FOIP data they send, and the town hall data don't even jive. Heres that town hall presentation if you want to read it yourself and find the same difficulties we did.
Now, this puts us in a bit of a philosophical pickle We compared our numbers and the numbers AHS gave us and we just cant make them math. Is AHS actively covering something up, or are we just witnessing a textbook case of Hanlon’s Razor: never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by sheer stupidity and incompetence? Honestly, with the masterminds running AHS EMS, either option is entirely plausible; however, according to AHS EMS as mentioned, as of December 2024 they only had 107 vacant jobs, but one thing’s for sure: Edmonton’s vacancies are absolutely unhinged. Let’s take a stroll down last year’s disaster lane:
January – 116 vacant jobs
February – 102 vacant jobs
March – 104 vacant jobs
April – 100 vacant jobs
May – 93 vacant jobs
June – 112 vacant jobs
July – 107 vacant jobs
August – 125 vacant jobs
September – 116 vacant jobs
October – 113 vacant jobs
November – 110 vacant jobs
December – 107 vacant jobs
With numbers fluctuating like a polygraph hooked up to an AHS EMS manager, we really have to ask: Just how toxic is this place(Given that we cant make the numbers jive though we would also love to see AHS EMS hooked up to a polygraph)? Why does nobody ever fire the people responsible for this train wreck?!
But let’s not lose sight of the real takeaway here, AHS EMS insists that staffing definitely isn’t the problem! Nope, nothing to see here! Everything is just fine! In fact, they claim they’re making huge strides to take care of their people and recognize their efforts as paramedics. Or so "leadership" would have you believe. Which is exactly why we found this situation with service awards very interesting…
Nothing says "we value our staff" quite like making service awards a DIY bake sale.
Here’s the rundown: A paramedic (who shall remain anonymous because, let’s be honest, AHS leadership loves retaliation) applied for their long-service medal, like you’re supposed to. Meanwhile, someone else they know, who also applied, but through a different channel, got theirs in two weeks, no fuss. Our paramedic? They spent years emailing the designated AHS contact, only to eventually discover that guy disappeared into the void without so much as a memo. No replacement, no process, no communication, just radio silence. Classic.
Then, COVID hit, and all medal presentations were “paused.” (Read: we weren’t doing them anyway, but now we have an excuse!) Staff started joking about it because, really, what else can you do when your employer puts literally zero effort into recognizing your years of service?
And when medals did finally start trickling in? Well, let’s hear from someone who actually received theirs in a different zone:
“Today, I received both my 12- and 22-year Alberta Emergency Services Medals. There was no ceremony where I could stand with pride, no handshake, no ‘Thank you for your service to Alberta’ like my fellow first responders in Police and Fire receive. No pictures. No moment of recognition. No acknowledgment of what I’ve given to earn these awards. Instead, my medals were left for me in a manila envelope in my supervisor’s office—just another task on someone’s to-do list. After tens of thousands of hours on the job, after caring for thousands of patients, after missing time with my family, my friends, and my own life to serve, a simple handshake and a ‘thank you’ would have meant more to me than these medals ever will. So, thank you to the Province of Alberta for finally recognizing my career milestones. And thank you, Alberta Health Services, for making this moment just another regular Monday—showing me exactly how little my service means to this company.”
And that, right there, sums up everything you need to know. This just screams we are all over taking care of our people, and we care! Perfectly on track with the toxic culture within AHS EMS that "leadership" is so desperate to deny the existence of said culture!
Enter one lone supervisor who actually gave a damn. She somehow hunted down 60 medals and is now single-handedly organizing the entire ceremony—on her own time, with zero budget. She’s calling for volunteers to bake, bring drinks, and even supply fresh flowers just to make it feel somewhat meaningful. Because, apparently, recognizing the people who keep the system running is too much effort for AHS EMS leadership. What is not too much effort though? Telling Paramedics that recognition is a priority as they did in the Edmonton zone town hall presentation, while barely actually raising a finger! We're sure once all the heavy lifting is done though "leadership" will show up to pretend like they were a big part of the process. We can see it now! Posing for photos, shaking hands, and pretending like they played a big part in it. Wouldn’t want to miss a great PR opportunity, after all.
Oh, and remember when these medals used to come with an official letter from the Premier? Yeah, that’s gone too. Now it’s just a sad little handoff, no pomp, no family invitations, nothing. But hey, staffing isn’t the problem! AHS EMS is totally taking care of their people! Just don’t expect them to lift a finger to prove it.
So, with that in mind, no wonder staffing and Paramedic moral is somewhere below the gutter, "leadership" would just prefer not to recognize that fact. So as staffing falls to pieces let’s take a peek at 14 months of relocation requests. From January 1st to February 24, you’d expect these to be minimal, right? I mean, if staffing isn’t an issue, there shouldn’t be a constant need to shuffle ambulances around like a paramedic-themed version of musical chairs.
And now we check the numbers…
Oh. 4842 relocation requests for surrounding communities to send their ambulances to Edmonton.
Yikes.
But hey, it’s not like someone in Leduc pays the same amount of taxes as someone in Edmonton for their ambulance service, right? Oh wait… they do. But don’t worry! “The system is borderless!” We can already hear "leadership" who LARP as Paramedics screaming it from their ivory towers. Funny how these "leaders" will always advocate for what is best for the system, but never for patients. Turns out though people in smaller communities need Ambulances too. Who knew?
And speaking of people who pretend to care, the Alberta government. Oh yes, they know this is a problem. They know EMS is a hot-button issue, but instead of stepping in, they sit on the sidelines, pretending to be utterly baffled by how it got this bad. And why wouldn’t they? This dysfunctional, neglected disaster is far easier to ignore than to fix. If they did acknowledge it, they might have to, gasp, actually do something about it. Instead, they cross their fingers and pray that the outrage doesn’t get too loud, hoping it never turns into a political nightmare for them.
Well, bad news, folks. We’re going to scream about it as loud as we can. If they want to do nothing, then let this become a political hot potato so blisteringly radioactive that no one in the UCP can hold it without getting burned. They deserve it. If they won’t act, then they’ll get exactly what they fear most, voters paying attention.
Funny thing, though, every single time we look at any zone, this so-called borderless system exists for one reason: to mask management’s incompetence. It’s the corporate equivalent of slapping a fresh coat of paint on a rotting, rusted-out car, hyping it up as a state-of-the-art luxury vehicle, and selling it at full market price, only for the poor sucker who bought it to realize the wheels are about to fall off as soon as they drive off the lot. This mess means they can garner favour from the government of the day and say look another year and we don't need more Ambulances. Unfortunately though you can only do that to the point the system breaks and it broke years ago. Now they have to scream the praises of the borderless system to protect what they all hedged their reputations on since AHS took over provincial EMS. That said though, the Borderless Boondoggle™ is nothing more than a guarantee that small towns and cities will be forced to hand over their ambulances to Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, etc., leaving their own communities in the lurch. Worse yet they’ll have zero recourse because the system demands it.
And AHS EMS management? Oh, they love their system. They don’t just defend it, they worship at the feet of it.
Oh, are we done? Heck no! We don’t stop until Edmonton EMS leadership has the credibility of a snake oil salesman at a flat-earth convention! Which brings us to discretionary work!! Oh boy, discretionary work. Bet they really didn’t want us poking around here! But, of course, we did. We crunched the numbers, and brace yourselves, 15% of Edmonton Zone’s paramedic coverage in 2024 came from casual employees. Yep, a workforce built on “Hey, can you pick up another shift?” (but rather than asking its a text message from telestaff) rather than, you know, actual staffing.
But wait, it gets even better. Throw overtime into the mix, and that number climbs even higher, with 5% of staffing coming from overtime! Only at the low low price of over 6 million dollars a year! And despite all that discretionary work, casual shifts, endless overtime, the occasional human sacrifice, they still only managed to break 90% staffing for a single month in 2024. The average? A solid 87%.
Now, 87% might look great on paper. Pop the champagne, right? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. With so much staffing reliant on last-minute desperation, that magic 87% can be achieved while leaving weekends, holidays, and busy periods hilariously understaffed. Still, “leadership” gets to slap a gold star on their spreadsheets and tell themselves they’re doing a great job. Because who needs fully staffed ambulances when you’ve got creative accounting?
But don’t worry, folks—2025 is off to a fantastic start! January was a real triumph, with 10,803 shifts on the books and a heroic 9,779 of them actually staffed. That’s a flawless 90%! Break out the confetti! Sure, they needed casuals to jump in 1,576 times (14%) and convinced paramedics to pick up 526 shifts on overtime (4%), but hey, progress is progress, right?
So, can they keep up the momentum? Let’s see!
February rolled around with 9,684 shifts, but only 8,430 actually got staffed—87% coverage. Casuals were called in 1,576 times (16%), and paramedics heroically picked up 520 overtime shifts (5%). So much for that January “improvement,” huh? Right back to their usual disaster of a trend line.
And, of course, this was the same month they told the media we had no credibility and staffing wasn’t a problem. You’ve got to admire the dedication, to gaslighting, at least. If we couldn’t laugh, we’d have to cry. But hey, at least we’d be crying alongside the overworked Edmonton Zone paramedics. Solidarity, right?
Why does this matter? Because when you build an EMS system on hope and desperation, you end up with disasters like March 2nd, when staffing in Edmonton plummeted to 75%. That’s right, one in four paramedics just wasn’t there. And here’s where it gets really fun: Paramedics can see the roster. They can look at the schedule and say, “Wow, what a nightmare! I am absolutely not picking up a shift in this dumpster fire.” And the best part? They don’t have to.
And now, a special message for the Alberta Government. Look, we get it. Governments love to delay, deflect, and hope problems just go away. But this? This $6 million in overtime waste, these stagnant wages, this absolute train wreck of a system? That’s your mess too. You don’t get to play dumb and pretend this is someone else’s failure.
It might be tempting to pin this all on Jason Kenney’s government, since he disrespected health care so completely that it helped set this disaster in motion. But guess what? This isn’t Kenney’s government anymore. It’s Danielle Smith’s. And that means she owns this mess now.
If the government had even a shred of competence, MLAs would be all over this crisis. Instead? Nothing. No action. No urgency. No plan. Just waiting, delaying, and hoping paramedics somehow stop quitting out of sheer exhaustion.
Well, bad news, Premier Smith. You can keep stalling the contract talks. You can keep dragging your feet on wage increases. But every delayed decision costs this province millions in overtime and drives more paramedics away. And when Alberta finally runs out of overworked, underpaid paramedics to exploit, guess who gets to wear the blame?
You do.
After years of being disrespected, looked down on, and treated like disposable cogs in a broken machine, AHS EMS’s toxic leadership is finally reaping what they’ve sown. Their chickens have come home to roost so to speak, except instead of chickens, it’s paramedics saying, “Yeah, no thanks, I’d rather not come to work today.” And management? Completely powerless to do a damn thing about it because they're all casuals. So what we know is that over the past decade, AHS EMS has carefully cultivated a radioactive work culture, one built on fear, gaslighting, and disposable staff. While we can’t say for sure who masterminded this glorious failure, let’s just refer to this unnamed villain as evil Mr. Potato Head.
But here’s the real kicker: Now that the writing is on the wall and the whole system is laid bare for the disaster it is, what does the current so-called leadership team want to do about it? Absolutely nothing. Hallway waits? Still happening. Toxic, frivolous investigations? Still a management favourite. Workplace bullying and harassment? Check. Sexual misconduct? Somehow a very real issue. Emergency Ambulances used to transport routine non-clinical patients? Everyday across the province! Ambulances being dispatched for "Emergencies" that could be handled by a walk-in clinic or a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart? Oh, all the time.
And perhaps the most insulting part?
Police are treated like police.
Firefighters are treated like firefighters.
EMS? Treated however the hell management feels like treating them that day.
And that usually means completely ignoring the 'Emergency' part of Emergency Medical Services.
We’ve talked before about how AHS EMS had a plan, a grand, brilliant, foolproof strategy to redirect calls that didn’t actually require an ambulance. They boasted about it, and its potential in the media:
And we’ve also talked about how that plan crashed and burned spectacularly under the sheer incompetence of its architects. But in case you missed that delightful disaster, here’s a refresher: The EMS-811 Shared Response Program – The Fix That Never Was. If you want the coles notes though 65% of the referrals to health link come back to EMS anyways. Now, what if we told you that a third of all EMS calls in Edmonton could have been avoided entirely?
Let’s break it down:
January 2024 – 36% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
February 2024– 37% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
March 2024– 37% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
April 2024– 36% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
May 2024– 37% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
June 2024– 39% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
July 2024– 41% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
August 2024– 40% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
September 2024– 39% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
October 2024– 38% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
November 2024– 38% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
December 2024– 39% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
January 2025– 39% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
February 2025– 39% of emergency calls result in a cancellation
So, what’s being done about this?
A well-thought-out, effective public education campaign?
Paramedics being given the authority to educate the public on what actually requires an ambulance?
Absolutely not.
Instead, AHS EMS leadership just keeps blindly sending ambulances to these unnecessary calls, then has the audacity to act surprised when their staff is burning out at record levels.
And here’s the real kicker: They don’t even let paramedics educate people at these events.
See, if a paramedic were to politely inform one of these thousands of non-emergent patients that they did not, in fact, need an ambulance, and then explain why, and that person dared to complain to AHS… Well, that’s when "leadership" calls in the cavalry.
Cue the supervisors. Cue the investigations. Cue the crazy-eyed HR attack dog. Because in this system, fixing the systems inefficiencies isn’t the goal, silencing the people who point it out is.
While researching transport statistics though we did stumble across something very interesting! Comparing January 2024 to January 2025, there was a 12% increase in call volumes. And in February? An 8% increase. Those are substantial jumps! But has anyone seen AHS EMS "leadership" out there advocating for more resources? Right. Didn’t think so.
What we did see, however, was leadership proudly announcing they’d be buying new ambulances, because, naturally, they ran the last batch into the ground. Instead of fixing the actual problems that destroyed the old ones, they’re just reloading the assembly line so they can do it all over again. And if that wasn’t enough déjà vu for you, remember when they swore up and down that the Optima Computer System was going to revolutionize AHS EMS?
Make everything more efficient!
Fix response times!
Place Ambulances right beside the next call!
Totally not be a colossal waste of money that ran paramedics into the ground!
Well, after that catastrophic disaster nearly destroyed the entire EMS system by trying to make it so efficient that Ambulances just flexed around all shift, they had to dial back its so-called ‘efficiency’, but not before spending millions of dollars on the system that could have been used to hire more medics. And guess what they’re doing again?!? Soon we will have a brand new Computer system that will totally fix it this time for sure guys!
You don’t have to take our word for it, see for yourself:👉 AHS EMS Leadership’s Latest Brilliant Idea
Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Perhaps asking to recruit more Paramedics though is too much of a tall order? Especially with what AHS EMS offers for pay these days! Although, they'd certainly have you believe they are trying to recruit. We did advise against them touting this bad boy out since we had the numbers but they did it anyway!
Let’s talk about that big, shiny recruitment campaign. Because when your staffing crisis is at DEFCON 1, the logical solution is obviously to burn money on marketing instead of fixing the problems that made everyone quit in the first place. 905 responses? 2,152 unique applications? Fantastic! Let’s just ignore that AHS still can’t seem to retain anyone long enough to make a dent in the vacancies. Especially with how many Fire Departments hiring right now? But hey, they gave us some fresh nonsense to rip apart so let’s get to it. Ah yes, the AHS Grand Recruitment Tour. They call it a campaign targeting “local, national, and international candidates.” Here is what AHS EMS said:
AHS continues to recruit and retain paramedics, with a multifaceted marketing campaign running from October 2023 to March 2024, targeting local, national, and international candidates. The campaign has already generated 905 responses and 2,152 unique applications.”
Sounds impressive, right? Like they’re scouring the globe for top-tier medics, hitting up Newfoundland, Quebec, maybe even British Columbia (wait, scratch that, BC actually pays their paramedics a living wage). But surely, they’re casting a wider net, Australia, South Africa, England, Brazil, Sweden. Anywhere they can lure in some fresh blood to patch up this disaster, right?
Wrong.
Because, in true AHS fashion, the “international recruitment campaign” turned out to be about as ambitious as a bake sale flyer taped to a break room fridge. We asked:
What we got instead was a couple of road trips through Alberta. That’s it.
According to the info AHS EMS so generously provided, they never even left the province. Maybe you don’t need to know anything about geography to get into whatever highly specific yet wildly unhelpful master’s program these folks are taking, but news flash, Alberta is not international. It’s not even national. It’s very, very local. But hey, AHS, points for consistency, you can’t solve a staffing crisis if you never actually try. That said their road trip led to them hiring 27 people for the entire provincial system though so by their backwards logic thats a win?
Now, in case AHS EMS needed a real-life example of what an actual international hiring campaign looks like, and clearly, they do, let’s take a little field trip over to Saskatchewan:
While Alberta Health Services was busy pretending they had launched some grand global recruitment drive (spoiler: they hadn’t), Medavie Health Services West in Saskatoon was actually hiring paramedics from Australia. Not just talking about it, doing it.
In December 2023 they brought in nearly a dozen new recruits from Down Under to help deal with record-high call volumes. That may not be a huge volume of people but it is certainly higher than zero! The first two landed in Saskatoon, with more arriving over the following weeks. Meanwhile, the provincial government kicked in extra funding for ambulances and expanded training programs to help with the demand.
Now, we can’t help but notice that Medavie West seems to understand that Australia is, in fact, a different country, something AHS EMS apparently struggles with. Maybe next time AHS wants to brag about their international efforts, they should start by opening an atlas or at the very least google earth (its free to download). At the very least call Medavie, maybe they can explain to you what an oversees flight is.
Alright, let’s land this flaming dumpster fire of a story with a proper conclusion, because if AHS can’t wrap up their nonsense with a coherent ending, at least we can.
Let’s review, shall we? AHS EMS swore up and down that Edmonton wasn’t in crisis. Then, mere days later, they were setting off more distress signals than the Titanic. They scrambled for ambulances from anywhere that would listen, begged paramedics for overtime shifts like a desperate ex, and STILL couldn’t fill trucks. Meanwhile, their official stance remained, “Nothing to see here, folks!”
We exposed it. The media caught on. And AHS, in all their infinite wisdom, responded by doubling down on the spin, because when in doubt, deny, deflect, and gaslight.
So here’s the big question: If everything’s fine, why do they keep proving us right? Why are their internal memos constantly contradicting their PR statements? Why are paramedics and nurses telling us the exact opposite of what AHS is claiming? Why can they just not be honest? And most importantly, why is their response time to public criticism faster than their actual emergency response times?
The answer is simple: We are over target.
AHS EMS isn’t mad because we’re wrong. They’re mad because we’re right. They hate that we’re keeping records, that we’re gathering real numbers, their numbers, and that we’re proving, time and time again, that they are lying to the public and Paramedics.
And that’s why we need your help.
If you enjoyed this article, if you want us to keep digging, keep exposing the truth, and keep throwing their failures right back in their faces, please consider donating to our GiveSendGo. Your support helps us fund research, sticker campaigns (because if AHS hates anything, it’s accountability and humour), and most importantly, ensuring that Alberta’s paramedics and the public know just how badly they’re being screwed over.
💸 Donate here: https://www.givesendgo.com/GC4M8
Because if AHS wants to keep playing this game, we’re more than happy to keep beating them at it.
Oh, and speaking of supporting the cause, let’s talk T-shirts. We’re officially moving forward with the T-shirt campaign, and no, it won’t cost you $50—it’s $40. If you donate $40 or more to our GiveSendGo, just shoot us an email from the same email address you used to donate and what size shirt you need, and we’ll make arrangements to get you your shirt!
Here’s the plan: We’re starting with 50 shirts, but if demand is high (and we know it will be), we’ll do another round of 50. Calgary Zone? Easy. We’ll announce pick-up times and locations and email everyone who donated. Edmonton? We’re making a trip up north to bring them to you—details to come. South, Central, and North Zone folks? We’ll mail them out, and if we’re passing through Central Zone, we’ll try to drop some off in person.
No hard timeline yet, but the animation is sketched, the supplier is lined up, and all that’s left is finalizing the designs and getting production rolling. And if demand goes beyond 100? No problem. We’ll keep this crazy train rolling and print more! So, consider donating, grab a T-shirt, and wear it like a battle flag—because this fight isn’t over.
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