The Citizen, 2016-07-14, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016.
County cuts advanced care paramedic program
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Huron County Council has axed
the advanced care paramedic (ACP)
program at a saving of $1.7 million —
but at a cost, some say.
Council made the controversial
decision at its July 6 meeting, with
over a dozen Huron County
paramedics in the gallery.
Paramedics in attendance
applauded council's first decision,
which was to defeat a motion to
eliminate the ACP program through
the natural course of attrition. The
applause was short-lived, however,
because after that motion was
defeated, council passed a new
motion: to eliminate the program
immediately.
After a lengthy closed -to -the -
public session, Huron East's Bernie
MacLellan said the new information,
passed on to council through a
solicitor, was crucial to the decision
being made.
If Huron County were to eliminate
the program through attrition, it
would cost ratepayers $2.3 million
until the final current ACP were to
retire, as opposed to a cost of less
than $600,000 to eliminate it
immediately.
MacLellan said that those figures
are in "today's dollars" and didn't
factor inflation into the equation,
meaning the savings would likely be
even higher over time.
The county's 14 ACPs, according
to Chief Administrative Officer
Brenda Orchard in an interview after
the meeting, will now be laid off by
the county and offered new positions
as primary care paramedics (PCPs).
They will be given the appropriate
notice as per the collective-
bargaining agreement, Orchard said,
and will be able to choose whether
or not they want to stay with Huron
County as a PCP for less pay, while
retaining their seniority, or if they'd
rather move on to new opportunities.
While ACPs are qualified to
administer different drugs than PCPs
and have additional skills, many
councillors said that the lottery -like
chance of encountering an ACP
(there were only 14 among a work
force of nearly 100), as well as their
uneven dispersal throughout the
county, factored heavily into their
decision.
MacLellan said there was no even
dispersal of the ACPs to ensure there
were always a few on duty and there
was no guarantee that ACPs would
be stationed evenly throughout the
county. In fact, he said, it was to the
contrary, because ACPs would often
be stationed in Goderich, not serving
any rural residents in areas where, it
could be argued, an ACP's skills
would be more important because
residents are further from local
hospitals.
At the beginning of the meeting,
Brad Watters, an ACP representing
the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) 4513, spoke to
council on behalf of the program,
saying that the program saves lives
and its elimination wouldn't save the
county much money.
Watters said that according to his
figures, if council were going to
eliminate ACPs through attrition,
$90,000 would be saved over a 30 -
year period, amounting to savings of
just under $3,000 annually.
Comparing the relatively -low cost
benefits to the life-saving power of
14 ACPs, he said, the move wouldn't
make sense.
North Huron's Neil Vincent said
that for his ratepayers, they would
rather see another ambulance on the
road than continue the ACP
program.
However, Watters said, the
potential savings didn't add up.
Eliminating the program would save
$2,957 per year, while it would cost
$1 million annually to put another
ambulance on the road.
In further defense of the program,
Watters said that a paramedic's job
has changed drastically in the last 20
years. No longer are they simply
ambulance drivers, he said,
providing significant care to patients
on scene and en route to local
hospitals, especially in far-flung
rural communities.
Watters also told council that it's
not just ACPs who are standing up
for their jobs — many PCPs are also
in favour of the program. Because of
confidentiality issues pertaining to
specific cases, Watters said, many of
A very important lesson
The Kids in the Kitchen Masterchef, which is a more advanced version of the Kids in the
Kitchen program for older aspiring chefs, started its tour on Monday at Blyth United Church.
The program, which travels throughout the county, shows children over the age of 10 how to
safely create great meals in the kitchen. Above, organizer Laura Peach shows the class how
to properly handle a knife and the different kinds of cuts that can be used in food preparation.
(Denny Scott photo)
Driver fails to evade OPP stop
A young driver from Markham is
facing several driving related
charges following a brief police
chase last week.
At approximately 8:15 p.m. on
July 6 a Huron County Ontario
Provincial Police (OPP) officer
observed a motor vehicle travelling
eastbound on Morris Road near
Clyde Line in Morris-Tumberry.
The officer activated a RADAR unit
and measured the speed of the
vehicle at 191 kilometres an hour in
a posted 90 kilometre -per -hour
zone. The officer immediately
activated his emergency lights and
followed after the BMW sports
utility vehicle. It appeared as though
the driver was going to come to a
stop when he slowed down and
pulled off onto a private laneway.
However the driver decided to
take his vehicle off-road through a
corn field.
The suspect's vehicle bottomed
out and nearly got stuck on several
occasions. The driver was able to
loop back around toward the
laneway whereupon the chase came
to a halt when the officer used his
police vehicle to block the driver
from exiting back onto the laneway.
The officer approached the vehicle
and the driver was taken into
custody without incident. An 18 -
year -old Markham man has been
charged with Dangerous Driving,
Flight While Pursued by Peace
Officer, Race a Motor Vehicle and
Drive While Under Suspension. He
has since been released from
custody with a court appearance
scheduled for Aug. 15 at the
Ontario Court of Justice in
Goderich.
His licence has been suspended
for seven days and his vehicle has
been impounded for a week.
an ACP's skills go unrecognized by
the general public.
MacLellan asked if the county
would have input as to where and
when ACPs could be stationed and
Watters said that as a union, that
would be something they'd be
willing to negotiate. Watters said
that while their chief Jeff Horseman
currently deploys paramedics,
paramedics are stationed at their
home bases and can't simply be
moved.
After the closed -to -the -public
session, council raised the issue of
eliminating the ACP program by
attrition, a motion tabled at the June
15 committee of the whole meeting.
Huron East's Joe Steffler pointed
out that by eliminating the ACP
program, Huron would join Perth,
Bruce, Grey and Oxford Counties in
not offering it to residents.
A vote to discontinue the ACP
program through attrition was
defeated 10 votes to five. Neil
Vincent, Jim Ginn, Jim Donnelly,
Dave Jewitt and Art Versteeg voted
positively, while MacLellan, Ben
Van Diepenbeek, Steffler, Kevin
Morrison, Tyler Hessel, David
Frayne, Paul Gowing, Maureen
Cole, Roger Watt and Jim Fergusson
all voted against it.
Immediately following the vote,
however, MacLellan made a new
motion to eliminate the program
immediately. He cited the significant
savings to the county by doing it
immediately, rather than drawing it
out over the next 30 years.
Donnelly, however, pointed out
that the savings aren't simply being
created out of thin air. The county is
losing a service and saving as a
result, he said.
Watt told a personal story where
he wasn't properly sedated for a
procedure and when they realized it,
he was calmed down and given
morphine and told he was going to
be alright. He said he wouldn't be
party to a decision that would
remove that comfort from a resident
in distress, whether it be in a ditch or
in the back of an ambulance.
Voting to eliminate the program
immediately were Van Diepenbeek,
Gowing, Steffler, MacLellan,
Versteeg, Cole, Ginn and Fergusson,
while Morrison, Frayne, Watt,
Hessel, Donnelly, Vincent and Jewitt
voted against it. The vote passed by
a count of eight votes to seven.
Purses
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