Still unclear how CanWest will run air ambulance
Two months after an Alberta Health Services announcement that CanWest was the successful bidder for fixed-wing air ambulance service, including the base in Medicine Hat, it is unclear how it will meet requirements.
An AHS announcement, dated March 21, states CanWest was awarded the RFP for Medicine Hat, Calgary, Edmonton, Slave Lake, Grande Prairie, Peace River, High Level and Fort Vermillion. Alberta Central Airways was awarded Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray, with negotiations “required to finalize the RFP selection process.”
“As of today, no contract has been finalized with any proponent,” said Darren Sandbeck, EMS chief paramedic. “The RFP process is still ongoing and we expect successful vendors will meet all requirements by the time existing contracts expire on August 31, 2017.”
One requirement according to the RFP is “hangar storage for aircraft and provisions to accommodate ground support vehicle parking and storage of medical supplies necessary to support the Air Ambulance Program.”
CanWest declined an interview but a copy of a CanWest press release, obtained by the News, states it has been “successful in securing hangar facilities in all Base Locations awarded, with the exception of Peace River”.
The City of Medicine Hat has said there is no land available for CanWest at Medicine Hat Airport.
“Can West has asked the question to our planning department and our airport manager about whether there is land available,” said city CAO Merete Heggelund. “They have been provided with a possible layout for future lot development in accordance with the Airport Land Development project we are undertaking.
“They were told that this is just a schematic — no serviced land is available and it would take time (and money) to develop these lots to be ready for sale. Furthermore, any development would have to meet with all the normal regulatory procedures, (such as) development and building permits, etc.”
The RFP states the negotiation deadline for successful proponents is “30 calendar days after notification that they have been selected for a Base Location grouping,” but that deadlines can be amended or extended by AHS.
The RFP was issued Aug. 9, 2016. On Sept. 2, an AHS addendum was issued stating it would recognize “temporary solutions such as temporary portable hangars or other operational adjustments.”
If you bid on an RFP and state you have a hangar facility and it turns out you don’t, it should be considered “a breach of the RFP” and the bid should be thrown out, says Les Little, who in 1984 was responsible for putting in the first dedicated fixed-wing air ambulance in southern Alberta.
“Airports don’t want temporary tents on their airport that people are going to be operating out of,” said Little. “If there isn’t any land available then there isn’t land available.”
Little says there are sophisticated fabric structures that can be totally insulated and heated, but you still have to pour a concrete floor and it has to be serviced.
“It (the air ambulance program) was in my opinion one of the best in the world, and I personally I don’t think you can say that anymore with the way things are going,” he said. “It is still an excellent system and Albertans should be very, very proud of it, but my fear is that it is being dismantled a bit.”
Sandbeck wants to remind residents of Medicine Hat that regardless of who provides the service, there will be no change in air ambulance location or reduction in care. As the RFP is a legal process and AHS cannot provide further details until contracts have been finalized, he stated.