Town councillors say response times in Erin are so bad, it is only a matter of time before someone dies waiting for an ambulance.
“Sooner or later, we’re going to have a fatal incident,” councillor John Brennan said at a March 17 meeting.
Mayor Rod Finnie agreed, and said the new ambulance stationed in Rockwood has had little effect on response times in Erin, which are regularly around 20 minutes.
The problem, according to councillor Ken Chapman, is that no one really knows from where ambulances will be coming. Currently, depending on the call location, ambulances from Rockwood, Caledon, Orangeville, Fergus, Grand Valley, and Georgetown respond to Erin emergencies.
“It really is all over the place,” admitted Sandy Smith, assistant chief of the newly formed Guelph-Wellington Emergency Medical Service.
“Erin is unique, just by its location in the county.”
Chapman said the town has been lucky no one has died waiting for an ambulance, “But it is getting closer and closer and closer.”
For years, Erin officials have voiced concern that the town is the only municipality in Wellington County with an average response time above the provincial recommendation of 15 minutes or less.
In 2007, the average ambulance response time in Erin was 16 minutes 23 seconds, while others throughout the county ranged from 7:23 to 14:51.
The obvious solution is to provide an additional ambulance in Erin, but that may be easier said than done.
“We certainly understand [Erin’s] needs and concerns, but it’s not an easy fix,” Smith said. “We’d plunk a vehicle out there tomorrow if we had the money. It comes down to dollars and cents.”
In January, Guelph took over land ambulance services from Royal City Ambulance, with the joint Wellington-Guelph social services committee overseeing operations and the city ultimately approving the budget.
Smith figures it would cost about $1-million – including $160,000 for a vehicle and $750,000 in annual wages – to provide an ambulance in Erin 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And that is even before a building is considered, he said.
“We don’t automatically say 24-seven is the answer,” he acknowledged, adding staff considers call volume and peak hours.
For example, the Rockwood ambulance currently operates from 9am to 9pm, seven days a week, yet Smith said obstacles still exist even if a new Erin ambulance was staffed just 12 hours a day.
But regardless of any difficulty, town residents like Nancy and Marvin McDougall say something has to be done.
The McDougalls told council their epileptic son almost died twice last year because of ambulance delays.
In January of 2008, after about 45 minutes and two separate 9-1-1 calls to confused dispatchers, a Caledon ambulance finally arrived as the McDougalls themselves were about to transport their son, who was experiencing a life threatening seizure.
Paramedics administered a nasal valium spray and their son stopped seizing in the driveway.
About nine months later, it happened again, so the McDougalls called 9-1-1 and relayed the need for paramedics to bring the medicine. About 20 minutes later, an ambulance from Rockwood arrived, but without the spray.
So those paramedics called Guelph General Hospital and dispatched another ambulance, whose paramedics finally administered the medicine, approximately one hour and 10 minutes after the 9-1-1 call.
“[That] is not acceptable,” the McDougalls said in a letter to council. “[Our] concern is that council is unaware or lulled into a false sense of security with our Rockwood station.”
They were told level two paramedics alone can carry and administer medication, and the Rockwood station employs only level one paramedics. Finnie, on the other hand, was told “there is a level two paramedic on every ambulance.”
But according to Smith, neither assertion is true.
He explained it is “kind of hit and miss,” but “more times than not” there is a level two paramedic on duty.
“We just don’t have enough advanced care paramedics in the system to provide it all the time,” he said.
At Rockwood, there is one full-time level two paramedic and two others that have completed about 75% of the required training to achieve level two status. Smith said it takes about a year of part-time college studies to become a level two paramedic.
Erin council unanimously passed a resolution directing staff to provide a written response, with some answers, to the McDougalls. Finnie suggested the family could also be invited to the next social services committee meeting.
Guelph-Wellington Emergency Medical Services will provide a report to the social services committee specifically dedicated to finding solutions for the ambulance situation in Erin. Smith expects that report in May.
