Alberta to get 21 new ambulances, more paramedics as part of $64M injection

New ambulances are on their way to Edmonton after the province announced a total of $64 million for initiatives to reduce wait times and the number of red alerts.

A red alert is declared when there are no ambulances available to respond to 911 calls.

Alberta's health minister said Thursday afternoon that $28 million would be spent adding more ambulances and paramedics to three cities.

"Over the next two years, we're looking at 10 additional ambulances in Edmonton, 10 additional ambulances in Calgary. We're also looking at a new ambulance in Airdrie," Jason Copping said.

An additional $22 million dollars will be spent on extending ambulance contracts and supporting operation centres.

The remaining $14 million will address paramedic fatigue by adjusting shifts and schedules in 14 rural communities.

The union representing Alberta paramedics said the province needs to hire more paramedics.

"Just last month in the city of Edmonton, 348 times ambulances were dropped from a shift schedule because they had no staff," said Michael Parker of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta.

"Adding 21 ambulances over a two-year period won't solve these problems if we don't get enough paramedics to fill these shifts."

The union also says there are a few other ways the province can limit paramedic fatigue, including reducing the amount of overtime that paramedics are working.

Parker said employees are missing breaks, losing out on time with their family and struggling to schedule vacations.

The new investment increases the provincial EMS budget to $ 587 million, which the province said is a more than 12 per cent increase over Budget 2021.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Matt Woodman