INNISFAIL – The Government of Alberta has awarded the Innisfail Fire Department almost $25,000 through its Medical First Response (MFR) program.
And with that money Innisfail medical first responders from the local fire department will have for the first time an advanced cardiac monitoring unit.
On Feb. 21, Adriana LaGrange, provincial minister of health, announced two funding streams totalling $3.8 million for Medical First Response (MFR) agencies throughout the province.
Medical first responders (MFR) provide care to patients or assist EMS crews as needed. The majority of them that have partnered with Alberta Health Services are fire departments, and many of the responders are volunteers.
The new grant money will be distributed through two streams of the MFR Program to participating fire departments in urban, remote and rural municipalities and Indigenous communities.
One of the new funding streams, which will include medium and large-sized agencies, is $1.5 million for essential equipment, such as modern automated external defibrillators, trauma bags, CPR mannequins, instructor development and frontline response training courses.
“The MFR programs always had a grant system but generally the grants were significantly lower. They (province) increased the amount basically for that equipment grant,” said Gary Leith, the town’s fire chief for the Innisfail Fire Department. “In the past we received grants up to around $2,500.”
But this year the Innisfail Fire Department received $19,000 for the purchase of a LIFEPAK 15 monitor, which Leith says will allow his first responders to do advanced cardiac monitoring.
He added the unit also operates as a defibrillator.
“It (monitor) gives us the ability to monitor the patient more efficiently in respect of their oxygen uptake, and certainly post-fire if they have taken any carbon monoxide,” said Leith.
However, the $19,000 is still not enough to buy the new LIFEPAK 15 monitor, which costs $28,000.
Leith said the Innisfail Kinsmen have stepped up with an $11,000 donation to give the fire department more than enough money to purchase the monitor, the first of its kind for local medical first responders.
The second funding stream that was announced was $2.5 million to help fire departments and other agencies cover medical emergency response costs. These costs include fuel and equipment.
Leith said his fire department received $5,600 from this stream, which will go into its operating budget and help cover ongoing personnel costs.
