The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is heading back to the drawing board to figure out how to improve ambulance wait times in the community and reduce stress on emergency services.
Councillor Mark Authier's motion for the municipality to do everything possible, within the current budget and staff resources, to alleviate stress on EMS and improve delivery passed 15-0 at Monday night's council meeting.
The second part of his motion, which calls for administration to bring forward options for service enhancements to meet EMS demands in the 2018 budget, was approved 12-3.
Authier says the municipality's EMS has had to make changes in recent months to keep up with demands, and as a result, service is suffering.
"We've moved the one ambulance from Chatham to Blenheim full-time, so that's put more stress here on Chatham. Thamesville may have to come into Chatham, or Tilbury may have to come into Chatham, then Wallaceburg has to move somewhere else-- so we're moving constantly. It's like a chess game basically," explains Authier.
Authier says in certain areas of the municipality, wait times have become far too long.
"[Monday] was a perfect example with the little boy in Tilbury breaking his arm. It was about 40 to 45 minutes, I was told by a staff employee, that it took to get an ambulance there and it wasn't even one of ours. I've heard from EMS and as well as, fire/EMS administrators, who will tell you that we're definitely stressed," says Authier.
Authier is requesting that the municipality looks into funding another ambulance in 2018 budget. He says Chatham-Kent is becoming an older-aged community and thinks residents would be happy with paying a bit more tax dollars for less wait times and better service.
"More money towards ambulances at least saves some lives, as far as I'm concerned. The safety of our residents is more important than... I hate to say a million dollars... a million dollars is a lot of money, but still we pay for half and then the government pays the other half," says Authier.
Like many other members of council, Councillor Bryon Fluker says he is "very pleased to support this motion." While he acknowledges that ambulances are expensive, he thinks it's something that needs to be looked at.
