The Calgary Fire Department is adding a second medical response unit

The Calgary Fire Department (CFD) is now able to help people in emergency situations thanks to the addition of a second medical response unit.

Medical response units are small vehicles, manned by two firefighters, designed to respond to medical calls such as respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest and overdose.

The health care unit was reintroduced in 2023 after the council returned funding to the 2023-2026 budget.

It operates out of Station 1 downtown and answered about 6,000 calls in its first year.

This makes it the busiest vehicle in the CFD fleet.

Because medical response units are dedicated only to medical calls, they free up fire engines and other heavy equipment to respond to other emergencies.

“Fire trucks are meant to put out fires. Instead, bringing in a light vehicle with medically trained personnel and equipment allows us to quickly get the resources we need to the right types of calls,” Chief Steve Dongworth said in a news release.

“By having a dedicated medical response unit at our busiest stations, we ensure we can still meet the response times.”

This second aid unit operates out of station 2 on the belt line.

Medical response units are expected to jointly respond to about 10,000 calls this year, according to the fire department.

According to the fire department, personnel responded to 52,000 medical calls in 2023, an 18 percent increase from 2022.

Most of them are for heart palpitations and breathing disorders.

But there is another medical event that takes up a large portion of the total call volume.

“This is a reflection of the ongoing challenges of the drug poisoning crisis,” said Dr. Jennifer Jackson of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Nursing.

“The reason there are so many emergency calls is because we don't have enough space to support people, we don't have affordable housing and we don't have adequate supervised consumption facilities.”

Between January and October of last year, 1,692 Albertans died from toxic substances.

Comparing just the first 10 months of that year, 2023 has more deaths than any other year in the province's history.

In addition, many of these events seem to be taking place in the open.

Government data shows that 43 percent of toxic drug deaths occurred in public settings in the third quarter of the year.

“We need to change our approach to drug policy very quickly,” Jackson said.

“There is a place for a recovery framework in our province, but it has to be one of the options.”

“We've seen the opioid epidemic increase the number of (calls),” Dongworth added.

“(This new unit) can do defibrillation, we can provide oxygen, we can provide a cervical spine and we can administer naloxone.”

Ambulance vehicles are not designed to transport patients.

Instead, firefighters will remain on scene with patients until EMS arrives.