Suzanne Oel – Division 4
Greetings! Sharing my News Update…
Community Emergency Planning EVENT: You are invited to join the discussion on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the Priddis Hall, at 7 pm. Did you experience any delays getting to or from your home due to road closures during accidents or wildfire emergency events this past summer? How did this affect you? Let’s take that first-hand experience and turn it towards getting prepared. Learn about what happens during an emergency event, the rolls of emergency responders, and evacuation strategies. Discuss local routes. Consider family, neighbour, and community strategies in case of emergency or crime incidents. Our guests include: Foothills County Emergency Management, Foothills Fire Department, Public Works, RCMP, Emergency Responders, STARS, Highways, Tsuut’ina Nation, Rural Crime Watch, and Foothills Councillors. Q & A throughout. Share your perspective/stories.
Foothills County Municipal Development Plan ENGAGEMENT: Help shape the future of Foothills County for the next 20 years. Learn more by attending an Open House on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at the Priddis Hall from 4 – 8 pm. You can also apply to participate in the upcoming Workshop Series if this interests you. Read more here: https://engagearcadis.com/foothillsmdp/
Emergency Health Services Meeting with Foothills County, RECAP: In response to concerns about Ambulance service, Foothills County invited Emergency Health Services (EHS) to present and discuss this Provincial service on October 7, 2026. We first met with EHS in April 2024 about this issue and have been awaiting improvements. The Priddis ambulance has been flexed less to Calgary since then, but is now being used for non-urgent transfer and flexed to “other places” in the area, like Diamond Valley, High River, Cochrane, etc. Due to recent fatal accidents occurring along Highway 22 and ongoing incidents along Highway 762 and within the Foothills NW, we are asking again to keep the Priddis Ambulance at its home station in order to serve all the residents and visitors in the Foothills NW service area, instead of us receiving a delayed response to our medical emergencies from distant ambulances.
Many of us are concerned: The Priddis Ambulance is well-justified to remain in the location serving the Foothills County NW and adjoining Kananaskis, Bragg Creek, and Tsuut’ina Nation populations. The Divisions 3 & 4 base population of over 6,000 experiences a high surge and increased risk especially during the many months as a recreation destination mixed in with ongoing agricultural operations, industry, and resident activities. The Priddis NW area has the second-highest emergency response call volume in the County, according to 2026 Foothills Fire Department statistics, with 59% of all Fire Department calls attributed to medical first responses or medical co-responses. Telling data obtained through an EHS information request shows that 399 incidents occurred at the 2 highest acuity levels from Jan- Sept 2026, where response times were between 22 minutes (50th percentile) and 39:48 minutes (90th percentile), longer than EHS response time goals. The sheer volume of calls within our own community from our own emergency services and high acuity calls shows the need. These numbers and volumes stand to correct the under-reported numbers in EHS statistics provided at the meeting about the Priddis ambulance service catchment area.
Solutions: We need an additional Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance within Foothills to help with the growing demand and spins off that the Priddis ALS ambulance stays in the Priddis NW area. Need changes in EHS resourcing, clinical assessment/dispatching criteria, and flexing management. Add/allow nonambulance inter-facility transfer units in this area. Use ALS ambulances for the right things. Add extraordinary measures for busy summer days, etc.
EHS Changes Promised: EHS stated at the meeting that the biggest factor impacting response times is unit availability. They propose “clinical model changes” impacting metro coverage and “adding resources” to meet the service demand. Beginning this month, the “clinical model” will be changed so the suburban and rural ambulances brought into the cities to provide coverage will be prioritized for life-threatening calls, rather than responding to calls at all levels of patient acuity. EHS says these changes will help keep more ambulances available and will allow suburban and rural ambulances to return to their home communities sooner. To meet the growing demand, EHS acknowledges an “additional EMS resource” is needed for nearby communities and may be stationed in the Foothills region, which would aid with keeping Priddis at its home station more often.
Follow-up: Foothills County has requested more details on where the Priddis Ambulance spends its time and when we will receive the needed additional ambulance resource to Foothills County. We want to see these important changes happen right away. Apparently, EHS will also be launching an online “dashboard” public reporting system. We will be keen on seeing improvements and measurements. Thank you to the EHS, residents, and Foothills representatives for attending. Link to our Foothills County Council meeting with EHS (starts at 2:05:43 on the video): www.foothillscountyab.ca/government/council-committees/ meetings-hearings/council-meeting-07-oct-2026
For Other News & Updates:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CouncillorSuzanneOel/
Email: Suzanne.Oel@FoothillsCountyAB.ca
Please visit High Country News online for my previous articles.
With Best Regards,
Suzanne
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