$11M boost for 'compassionate' house-call paramedic program cheered by Calgary senior

The province is spending $11 million to expand a program that dispatches specially-trained community paramedics to give on-site care to seniors andAlbertans with chronic conditions so that they don't have to go to an emergency room.

The new funding will add 20 full-time community paramedics to a team of 30 already working out of call centres in Calgary and Edmonton supporting vulnerable Albertans throughout the province, Alberta's associate health minister, Brandy Payne, announced Tuesdayin Calgary.

Another 26 paramedics will form new teams for home and continuing care patients in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Peace River, and Camrose/Wetaskiwin.

"These paramedics are effective and compassionate front-line workers, helping Albertans get the right care at the right time, right in their own homes," Payne said in a release.

Community paramedics responded to 7,862 events in the Edmonton area and 6,802 in the Calgary area last year.

The new teams will support an additional 20,000 Albertans, the province says.

The paramedics are trained in sutures and wound treatment, diagnostics and electrocardiograms, IV treatments and blood transfusions.

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They consult with the patients' physicians and are also supported by on-call physicians.

Yvonne Routledge, 96, says that at her age the need for regular medical care is simply part of life. She says the community paramedic program allows her to get that care without having to go to the hospital very often.

"They're very, very good, very compassionate. I think they're wonderful," she said.

The province plans to roll out the expansion in stages through the spring:

• Red Deer, Camrose/Wetaskiwin Feb. 12.
• Grande Prairie, Peace River March 26.
• Medicine Hat, Lethbridge May.

New call centres for vulnerable populations:

• Edmonton Feb. 12.
• Calgary April 26.