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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-09-14, Page 22 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, September 14, 2016 Huron East votes in favour for the County to review decision in eliminating ACPs ii Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor The Advanced Care Para- medics program lost their fight at Huron County coun- cil last July, but have gained allies in the war as the majority of Huron East poli- ticians are giving them a glimmer of hope. A group of just under a dozen concerned ACP asso- ciates ranging from family members to active paramed- ics filled the gallery Septem- ber 6 in Huron East's munic- ipal room. In the delegation, Brad Watters (the Local 4513 act- ing President) and a para- medic for the last 23 years accompanied by Jeff Denys led the collection of citizens connected to the recent elimination. Huron County council is the first Ontario administra- tive district to do away with services from ASP program and according to Watters there isn't another constitu- ency in the country that has eliminated it either. As it was stated in the Huron County meeting, by December 31, out of the 87 paramedics employed by the county, 14 ACPs will no longer be named as that spe- cific position. Since provid- ing an ACP Program is not mandatory in the province of Ontario, the affected spots have the option to convert into primary care paramed- ics (PCP) with an annual cut in salary of about $10,000-$11,000. "These were the first peo- ple on the scene for the Goderich tornado," stated Watters to the Huron East council. "Now we are going to potentially replace them with people that are out of college (and) have no expe- rience or the level (of) skills these ACPs have." By constricting the extent of practice to a different medical title, Watters wor- ries about the long distance ambulances will have to make, these trips he said will continue to increase as time goes on. "If you were to have a stroke right now, right here tonight. We wouldn't take you to Seaforth hospital, we would take you directly to Stratford Ont.," explained Watters. "Next year, we are going to take certain heart attack victims directly to London Ont." "A lot can go wrong if you are having a heart attack; it These were the first people on the scene for the Goderich tornado," stated Huron County ACP, Brad Watters to the Huron East council last week. "Now we are going to potentially replace them with people that are out of college (and) have no experience or the level (of) skills these ACPs have." would be in your best inter- est to have the most highly skilled." After Watters was finished speaking, Denys carried on with a speech of his own. In his presentation, he supplied all of council and the public with documents from the Professional Paramedic Association of Ottawa. In the papers he handed out, they focused on the differences in medications as well as the procedures & Controlled Medical Acts. Denys highlighted the variety of pain medication comparisons. "ACPs can give morphine to patients that PCPs can- not. PCPs can only give Tyle- nol and Advil tablets, and if the patient can't swallow, they can give one dose of ketorolac. All of which takes about 30 min to take effect. Morphine is immediate," he said. Denys said that there is a large difference in skill sets and financially to keep the 14 ACPs would only cost ratepayers $1.50 yearly on average. As Denys' speech con- cluded, Seaforth Coun. Bob Fisher asked him how many paramedics it may take if the County desired full coverage. Denys' did not know the answer, however a few mem- bers from the gallery joined the conversation and esti- mated about 30 ACPs including vacation time. If this ever happened it would Justin Prince Brad Watters, a Huron County ACP and CUPE 4513 representative voiced his concerns about the recent elimination of the ACP program to Huron East council September 6. double to about $3 yearly. "I can find that amount of change on the side walk in a year's time," stated Denys. In addition to Denys and Watters being on the Huron East council agenda, so was the Municipality of Bluewa- ter. They sent out a docu- ment to all neighbouring municipalities in Huron County. In the text it said they had passed a motion on August 8, "that staff write a letter requesting that Huron County Council review the decision to cancel Advanced Care Paramedic Services," in light of new information received. To the Huron East Mayor, Bernie MacLellan's understanding from talking to a member of Bluewater council, they are no longer concerned with moving for- ward on the matter. "They received informa- tion after they sent that letter out that contradicts the new information," said MacLellan. "As far as the $1.50, that is an inaccurate number and the $177,000 is not the only cost savings:' MacLellan continued to state that a large amount of the cost not mentioned is the money lost from ACPs expired medications. To attempt to alleviate this loss, they enquired at the local hospitals to see if it was pos- sible to do an exchange for new medications and have them use the near perished. The hospitals turned down the idea. "We have to throw them away and they are not cheap," remarked MacLellan. With all the new informa- tion provided by Bluewater, Seaforth Ward Coun. Nathan Marshall questioned if the $177,000 in cost savings a year was still current. MacLellan responded by saying he did not have the number off the top of his head and added that it was only part of the picture. "This new information is coming from the people that are losing $11,000 off their pay cheque," said MacLellan. "It's not coming from the supervisors of the program; it's not coming from out- side agencies." Furthermore, the mayor commented that he recently talked to the County council and they were making a list of all the inaccurate informa- tion that has been provided to the community. There was a lot of misinformation he said. "I know they got on Blue - water's case, the fact that they were telling that Blue - water was going to lose their ACP program," said MacLel- lan while adding that there has not been an ACP para- medic since 2011. "So the stories being told are not accurate information:' Council defeated the motion to note and file the correspondence from Blue - water and voted in favour of supporting the Bluewater correspondence in respects to asking County council to review their decision. After the verdict from council, several of the supports of the ACP program gathered outside the Huron East council chambers. "We take great pride in the work we do, we do this for the people," explained a para- medic that asked her name not be mentioned for the fear of losing her job. "I moved to Huron County and I downsized drastically, I don't need an extra $10,000, I could careless:' MacLellan told council the County's policy to the best of his knowledge if this topic is brought back up, is that it must follow the Robert's Rules of Order. "If you bring it up at a meeting and expect it to be acted on at that meeting, it requires two-thirds majority," stated MacLellan. And the Expositor has learned from conversations with the Clinton News Record that the municipal- ity of Central Huron also passed a vote recently to reopen/re-instigate the ACP program.