Alberta Health Services representatives made their biannual presentation to town council last meeting (May 8), recapping hospital activity over the past year.
According to the data, there are some 15,000-plus visits to the Olds Hospital and Care Centre emergency department (ED) each year ñ an average of more than 40 each day and about 1,200 each month.
The hospital serves the Olds Local Geographic Area (LGA), which comprises the communities of Olds, Garrington, Eagle Hill, Wimborne, Mayton and Torrington, with a total population of 12,293.
AHS reports statistics along its fiscal year, so the presentation before council summarized the numbers between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017. Since 2012-13, total ED visits have been declining, from a high of 17,143 to just over 15,000 last year. During that time, there were 38 deaths at the hospital. In addition, there were 283 births in 2016-17, compared with 280 the previous year, and 217 the year before.
There were also 23 landings of STARS helicopters at the hospital this year, up from 16 last year. Wayne Krejci, site manager for Olds Hospital and Care Centre, noted that this does not account for landings at accident or rescue sites.
He said a ìgood chunkî of STARS evacuations from the Olds hospital are for cardiac events that have arrived through the ED, as well as operative patients being transferred due to complications.
The presentation also noted that 30 per cent of visits to the emergency department were ìpotentially avoidableî ñ meaning an illness or injury that could be addressed with a visit to a clinic or doctor's office instead of the emergency department. This number hovers around 22 per cent for the rest of Alberta, and the discrepancy has remained steady for the past five years.
In addition to hospital activity, Krejci also reported the emergency medical services (EMS) volumes for Olds. There are on average 70 ì911 eventsî each month ñ that is, calls for emergency medical services ñ with an average of 75 responses.
Olds-area EMS are sometimes sent outside of the LGA, explaining the higher response rate. In addition, EMS is called for approximately the same number of facility transfers each month. On average, about 85 per cent of 911 calls that EMS responds to result in a patient being transported.
Council accepted the presentation for information.
Thirty per cent of visits to the emergency room could have been dealt with at a clinic or doctor's office
