It was a day the town and the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) had been waiting for, the day they signed an agreement with Alberta Health Services to increase funding for the area's EMS.
For years, the BRFA and local officials have been in talks about increasing the amount AHS covers for the ambulance services offered to the MD and Town of Bonnyville, as costs have increased for the level of service they're providing.
With around $2.6 million budgeted for this year alone, the BRFA is relieved to hear they will now be receiving 86 per cent of their revenue for operating services from AHS. The remaining 14 per cent will be paid for by emergency calls, accident calls, and other services provided that are directly billed to the patient or group.
“We were able to come to an agreement with AHS regarding the funding for ambulance services for within the area, so the grant from the town and the MD were not needed,” explained Bonnyville Fire Chief Brian McEvoy. “This allowed us to continue operations without having to be subsidized by the local municipalities.”
In a time of need, last year the MD of Bonnyville and the Town of Bonnyville stepped up and offered to each contribute $93,500 as a line of credit to the EMS service in order to keep the program running during negotiations. This was prior to AHS signing a contract agreeing to their increase in contributions.
The BRFA had their fingers crossed that as negotiations continued, they would not require the funding from either council, and were happy to hear that they were successful.
“It is a relief to have this phase of the renegotiations concluded, because it gives us some breathing room to continue operating and offering EMS services at the level that the municipalities feel are adequate for the community,” McEvoy added.
Town of Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski reflected McEvoy's sentiments, stating he too felt a flood of reassurance.
“It's a relief, because the municipalities were very concerned that we would have to subsidize the service. We had set a position very early on that we were not going to subsidize the service, because the costs are on AHS, and we are very relieved that AHS is going to be covering their costs,” he added.
In 2013, the board of the BRFA inherited the administration and management of the ambulance service. At the time, they also inherited a contract that had originally been between the town, the MD of Bonnyville, and AHS.
“After a year of operation, it was proven that there was inadequate funds within that contract to continue operations at the level that the municipalities wanted, so negotiations were entered with AHS to address the funding shortfalls,” explained McEvoy.
Since then, renegotiations have been ongoing, while the BRFA continued to operate the service as usual for the town, MD, and other areas requested by AHS.
Overall, McEvoy said they are “looking forward to a smoother 2017 after all of the work that was done through 2015 and 2016,” as they laid the foundation to continue to provide exceptional service across the Lakeland.
“We are very happy that we were able to come to a resolution and we are looking forward to continuing with our work and our good relationship with AHS,” Sobolewski concluded.
