A letter outlining the town’s concerns about ambulance service will have to come back to council for a final review.
On April 3, Mayor Lou Maieron told council, “We have the draft letter that I penned regarding the ambulance situation to be sent to the Minister of Health.”
He said, “I think I can summarize the county position by reading the resolution: ‘That Shawn Armstrong, general manager of emergency services, city of Guelph be requested to take the information contained in councillor Maieron’s draft correspondence to Guelph for consideration and that a collaborative letter be drafted and signed by the mayor of Guelph and the warden of Wellington County’.”
Maieron said he would take council’s suggestions into consideration in that letter.
“I would like to send this out and I’d like to get an update, especially on this seamlessness [ambulance service] issue.”
He said there have been a few local incidents.
Maieron has concerns with outside services suggesting they would not respond to Erin calls unless it is a Code 4 emergency.
“But policies which suggest they would not send an ambulance unless there was a certain type of call, creates difficulties for us,” he said.
Maieron added the city has not stated if times improved tremendously as a result of a recent pilot project aimed at dealing with ambulance service.
He said, “seamlessness” is a provincial responsibility; therefore he wants to see something that could operate to better serve the Erin community.
Councillor Barb Tocher asked that council be able to review the letter before it is sent.
Councillor John Brennan agreed the issue needs to move.
He said council has waited at least four years, “and still we don’t have a satisfactory answer.”
Maieron said Guelph is also looking for a solution.
“We need to get the same service everyone else gets in the province,” Maieron said.
