Motion M2015-001

Ambulance Service

Whereas rural areas often do not have hospitals nearby;

and Whereas a long trip time to hospital increases the importance of prompt ambulance response times;

and Whereas rural areas do not have many connecting roads;

and Whereas ambulance bases in rural areas should be located so that the available connecting roads provide for optimum geographic coverage;

and Whereas a base in the village of Denbigh provides optimumal coverage for a geographic area the spans parts of the counties of Forntenac, Hastings, Lennox and Addington and Renfrew;

and Whereas the Ministry of Health chose to put an ambulance base in Denbigh in 1982;

and Whereas the Denbigh base provided land ambulance service to portions of five municipalities in four counties;

and Whereas the Denbigh Area Volunteer Ambulance Service provided reliable and economic 24 hour coverage to this region for twenty years;

and Whereas the County of Lennox and Addington has chosen to reduce the Denbigh base to 12 hour coverage;

and Whereas County staff have indicated that they believe the Denbigh base is uneconomic and should be closed entirely;

and Whereas the four counties failed to come to agreement on a cost sharing procedure for the Denbigh base;

and Whereas the Ambulance Act does not define the region to be considered as a “designated area”;

and Whereas the Ambulance Act regulations limit the Minister to considering entire municipalities as “designated areas”;

and Whereas said limitation does not provide the Minister with any remedy for the balkanization that has occurred with respect to ambulance service in the Denbigh area;

and Whereas the loss of seamless land ambulance service is a detriment to health care in Ontario;

now therefore be it Resolved that the Denbigh Townhall send a letter to the Minister of Health suggesting that the Minister give consideration to an amendment to Regulation 129/99 that would allow the Minister to declare a “designated area” to consist of portions of a municipality or municipalities.

Passed with 2/3 majority