Alberta’s chief paramedic is leaving the post in the new year.
On Friday, AHS EMS staff were notified Darren Sandbeck “will be leaving Alberta Health Services effective January 9, 2023.”
AHS confirmed the departure to Global News and said interim leadership is being put in place.
“Darren has been a recognized leader within AHS since its inception. AHS appreciates the expertise and skills he has brought to the organization and to emergency medical services in Alberta,” AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said in an email.
Sandbeck was in the position when AHS transferred its EMS dispatch to provincial call centers from municipal ones.
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Alberta’s 2 deputy chief medical officers of health resign
Williamson said AHS is also committed to the 10-point plan to improve EMS response times, shorten turnaround times for crews at emergency departments and increase resources.
Earlier this year, the province announced the successful addition of 10 ambulances each to Calgary and Edmonton. But EMS has seen higher than pre-pandemic call volumes this year.
Sandbeck’s departure continues a year-long parade of changes in upper-level AHS and Alberta Health officials.
Jason Copping, Minister of Health, confirmed during question period at the Alberta Legislature on Wednesday that Dr. Rosanna Salvaterra and dr. Jing Hu both submitted their resignations as deputy chief medical officers of health.
In November, Premier Danielle Smith announced the dismissal of the AHS Board of Directors and replaced them with a single official administrator, Dr. John Cowell. Days before, Smith announced that former CMOH dr. Deena Hinshaw will be replaced.
And in April, Dr. Verna Yiu leaves AHS as CEO.
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At an unrelated news conference, Copping expressed confidence in the “extremely capable people” taking on new leadership roles.
“We are focusing on delivering on the key priorities of the government, which are building capacity within our healthcare system, reducing emergency department wait times, reducing EMS response times, getting stuck with the surgeries and having more health. human resources. So we are going forward with that,” the health minister said.
“There can be change and I appreciate that. But we have some very capable people.”
Copping also thanked Sandbeck for his service.
The opposition health critic said the government had yet to respond to calls for changes to frontline paramedics, such as signing more paramedics to full-time contracts, getting crews off shift on time and expanding harm reduction services to ease the burden on ambulances to relieve and emergency departments.
“Jason Copping will not even release the EMS report that he had done in January and that has been sitting on his desk for months,” Edmonton City Center spokesman David Shepherd said in a statement.
“We will be watching closely to ensure that the UCP does not use the departure of the chief paramedic as a cover for the privatization of our ambulance system.”
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