Warman Fire Rescue (WFR) First Responders were called to 47 incidents during the month of September, with 39 of those being medical emergencies.
By mid-October, the pace of medical calls had not slowed down at all.
In fact, it increased.
In a report to the October 18 Warman City Council meeting, Warman Fire Chief Russ Austin said in the first 14 days of October, WFR First Responders were called to 35 medical emergencies. Most of those calls were COVID-positive or COVID-probable, he said.
“We are very busy fighting the fight,” said Austin.
From the beginning of January to the end of September this year, WFR First Responders were called to a total of 338 medical emergencies.
Medical calls in Warman have been increasing annually for the past decade. In 2014, there were 187 for the entire year; in 2015 there were 243; in 2016 there were 251; in 2017 there were 301; in 2018 there were 282; in 2019 there were 354; and in 2020 there were 381.
Medical emergencies are aggravated by the slow response times of ambulances based in Saskatoon.
“We did begin to see ambulance delays again, but this is systemic as every municipality is seeing the same thing,” said Austin in his report to council. “We did see our COVID-positive call volume increase, especially in the end of September.”
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has plans in place to have a permanent ambulance base established in either Martensville or Warman beginning in November. However, those plans may be delayed because of the sharp rise in medical emergencies across the region in the last few months due to the fourth wave of COVID-19. Paramedics are reporting substantial increases in both the number of calls and the length of time involved in admitting patients to hospitals.
