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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-03-01, Page 6THE EDITOR,I’ve just returned home frombeing south and was catching up on the news by reading the Feb. 15 edition of The Citizen. I was shocked to read about Huron East councillors Bernie MacLellan and Larry McGrath’s comments regarding the tiered response for Brussels firefighters and Huron EMS and voting against it. I can clearly see what they are looking at – it’s not the health and welfare of the residents of Brussels but rather the money aspect of things! I think it is great that the Brussels firefighters are more than willing to provide a first response. I do not agree that response times to Brussels have improved due to the roaming ambulance, as they are only available to Brussels under certain conditions. We recently had a very young resident who frequently required the fire department’s services until the ambulance arrived from Wingham as it never seemed to be in Brussels when needed. The fire department’s quick responses were greatly appreciated by his family. I agree with you on the fact that the firefighters are not paramedics but stating “they can’t tell the ambulance not to show up” is not true to the understanding of what first response is. The fire department has access to many first aid tools – a very valuable one being oxygen. Supplemental O2 (oxygen) is vital to a person having acute medical problems such as angina (chest pains), CHF (heart failure) or a person in seizure and many other things. The fact that the firefighters arrive quickly and use their first aid skills is a great asset. In the cardiac arrest patient, early CPR is imperative in increasing the chance of survival. Once the heart stops pumping, seconds count. For every minute that passes without help, a person’s chance of surviving drops by approximately 10 per cent. With CPR being initiated a person’s chances of survival may increase by 30 per cent ormore. Early defibrillation also plays a part in these percentages and I do not doubt it that someday, Brussels will carry an AED (automatic external defibrillator) to provide further advanced care to the town. It has been clearly documented for years that Brussels and Ashfield, Grey and Howick Twps. have the worst ambulance response times in the county. I am aware that Huron EMS has started placing roaming cars in ACW and Brussels for 12 hours each day to cover these poor response time areas. However, it was not mentioned that the cars are available only when they are not providing Code 8 (standby) elsewhere for other units are on Code 4 calls in the county. I have been told by paramedics that sometimes there is not enough staff available to cover the roaming cars on certain days. You must also realize that not every medical emergency in Brussels happens within these 12 hours when they are ‘available’. Mr. MacLellan, if you want something to get serious about and disagree with, I suggest you start with the Huron County council and the health, ambulance and social services committee that you sit on. As stated in the article, Huron ambulances are not allowed to travel over 20km/hr of the posted speed limit. My question to you is why don’t you take to your committee the need to allow paramedics to use their own judgment on the speed that they travel while doing a Code 4 (emergency) call? All paramedics operate the county’s ambulances under their own licence and are accountable for their own actions. So, why can’t they use their own brains when deciding about the road and weather conditions and the speed to travel? Why restrict them to 20 km/hr? You need to put yourself in the place of the patient or family member that needs tobe transported out quick andtimely. As a full-time registered nurse in the ICU and Emergency departments of Wingham & District Hospital, I often act as a transport nurse for patients from our facility who require a tertiary care centre, such as London or Kitchener. On Jan. 1 I was on duty when a patient who had fallen down a flight of stairs and suffered a significant head injury, arrived to our ER. The patient was immediately intubated to protect their airway and for their own safety. This patient was critically injured and required to be transferred out to the Trauma Unit of London’s Victoria Hospital. Air transport (helicopter) turned down the call due to changing weather conditions and that meant that we were going to go by ground transport. I was the transport nurse and we were soon on the road when I realized that we were not going very fast for an emergency transfer. I reminded the paramedic who was driving that this was a Code 4 call and she quickly stated that she was not allowed to go any faster than 110km/hr as this was policy set forth by Huron County. It sure doesn’t make sense to me that we had lights and siren on and yet the traffic flow behind us was keeping up and someone even passed us!! The paramedics have stated to me that they often feel embarrassed by the limitations to being allowed only 20 km/hr over the posted limit. General traffic tends to travel the speed of 110 km/hr - this is sure not a benefit to the patients who need to get to a hospital in a hurry. Please look at the big picture, Mr. McGrath and Mr. MacLellan, before you turn something down. It might be you who will require the services of the Brussels Fire Department or Huron EMS someday. Yours in Emergency Care, John Lowe, RN BRUSSELS. PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2007.Letter to the editorCouncil comments shock Continued from page 4 Goderich is one such clinic. Given the important role played by legal clinics in ensuring access to justice by the poor, why is it that they are in a perpetual state of funding crisis? The reasons for that are many and varied, but a few come immediately to mind. Legal clinics operate under a capped budget. Legal Aid Ontario, which funds the clinic system, has not received any increase in operational funding for 10 years, while at the same time, last year, this government poured money into every other public part of the justice sector (i.e.: crown lawyers, tribunal members, judges and courthouses). If the imbalance to funding is not fixed by giving money to legal aid and clinics this year, services will need to be slashed. By March 2006, while the total expenditures in the justice sector in Ontario amounted to $3 billion, only nine per cent went to Legal Aid Ontario, including just two per cent for the clinic system. Finally, when it comes to self-promotion, the clinic system is probably its own worst advocate. There is always something more pressing that needs to be taken care of first – like a single mom with three young children living in an apartment in which the heat has been turned off by the landlord, or an elder- ly homeless person in desperate need of food and medicine. It is time the government came to grips with the funding crisis faced by legal clinics. This is particularly important now that poverty is finally making its way to becoming headline news. Elimination of poverty takes many partners. The legal clinic system is an important one. If enough members of the public bring pressure on their MPPs, then with any luck, the upcoming provincial budget will finally make some provisions to increase funding to this critical sector. Staff and Board of the Huron/Perth Community Legal Clinic; Staff: Murray Austin, Kim Birmingham, Maxine Gidge, Lynne Harris, Jamie Hildebrand, Diana Wilker; Board: Rexanne Barrett, Jenn Cohen, Gloria Kyle, Douglas Newby, Kathy Powers, Scot Stanfield, Marlene Steinacker, Sara Wisking. Board suggests reasons healthycanadians.ca 1 800 O-Canada (1 800 622-6232) Physical activity. It’s for life! When you start them off with a healthy, active lifestyle, kids have more energy and self-confidence to pursue their goals for the future. Contact us today to get a Physical Activity Guide, to learn about the benefits of physical activity and sport participation, and how the new Children’s Fitness Tax Credit can help you keep your child moving. 3TeZgV \ZUdRcV f_de`aaRS]V For information on the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, call 1 800 959-8281.