'This is a crisis': townhall to highlight issues with rural EMS service

It's being described as unacceptable, unsustainable and critical and Airdrie residents have a chance to hear about it.

On Friday night, a town hall will take place at the Airdrie Legion hosted by Alberta paramedics who are raising the alarm on the issues of rural EMS service.

"Small town and city ambulances are being sucked into the central urban area and kept there for call after call after call," said paramedic Don Sharpe who will be in attendance for the town hall.

"They're leaving often early in the morning and not coming back until shift change and then booking on the air and going right back into Calgary to do more calls."

Sharpe said it's unacceptable that rural communities do not ambulance coverage for sometimes hours at a time.

While many will be quick to point the finger at the government in the wake of cuts to healthcare spending, Sharpe said this crisis is not the result of the current government and in fact has been going on for the past 12 years.

Back in 2009, the provincial government under the rule of the former PC Party, consolidated ambulance and EMS services to be under the control of Alberta Health Services (AHS). Previously ambulances were run by the individual municipalities.