HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-07-12, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2000.
Ambulance debate brings full house to county council
Huron County Council, Thursday,
decided to adopt a consultant’s rec
ommendation that will reduce the
number of ambulance stations in the
county from six to four, a move that
displeased many in the packed pub
lic gallery.
The option, aimed at providing
coverage based on population densi
ty, would see the Seaforth and
Clinton stations combined and locat
ed on Hwy. 8, either between the two
towns or at the east side of Clinton,
and the Zurich and Dashwood sta
tions combined and moved closer to
Exeter.
The plan does nothing to address
the fact that nearly one-third of Grey
Twp., a significant part of Howick
Twp. and the northwest comer of
Ashfieid are not within the 15-
minute travel time set as the criteria
for the redesign of the system. (The
eastern areas will be within that trav
el time from Listowel ambulances.)
The unhappy people in the gallery,
however, were not from northern
areas but from central and southern
areas unhappy with the loss of sta
tions. They applauded county coun
cillors who suggested the advice of
doctors and the Huron-Perth
Hospitals Partnership should be
accepted. Those groups had asked
the county to continue to operate
ambulances in the current six sites
when the county takes over the run
ning of the system in January.
Seaforth Reeve Lin Steffler out
lined a long chronology of opposi
tion from various groups, including
councils of Goderich and Seaforth,
opposed to the change in the number
and placement of ambulances. The
doctors and hospitals were con
cerned about the safety of county
residents if the ambulance system
was changed, she said. She warned
against “going against the safety
card” in reducing the service.
But Jon Hambides of the consult
should keep the current six-
system in place in the mean-
Rob Morley, reeve of
ing firm of Marshall, Macklin,
Monaghan/Pomax Inc., said the
option based on population density
meets the concerns of the physicians
and hospitals. “We’d be pleased to
hear anything definitive on how the
population density model will
impact adversely on safety,” he said.
He termed as “subjective” those
statements that the public would be
endangered.
But Steffler suggested there was a
need for everyone involved in
healthcare to sit down at the table
and discuss the issue and said the
county
station
time.
But
Usbome, said he felt the issue of
location of stations was overblown.
“A station is where you hang your
hat when you come to work,” he said
pointing out that ambulances are
already often parked “on call”
between two towns to provide cover
age to both.
Brian McBurney, reeve of
Tumberry, also pointed out that “the
system we inherited isn’t perfect. If
you live in Lakelet (in Howick)
you’re paying the same taxes with
ambulances 18 miles apart as you are
in Zurich” (where Zurich and
Dashwood stations are six or seven
miles apart).
But Steffler argued again for con
tinuation of the current set-up. “We
can operate the current system into
2001 and we can take the time to
gather data to make sure people are
getting the best service,” she said.
She won support from Mason
Bailey, reeve of Blyth who said there
seemed to be a consensus of opinion
from the medical community to keep
the system the way it was. He also
criticized those who insisted council
needed to get on with making
changes. “It’s been suggested we
make changes before a succeeding
9 ' ' i'&r
HURON COUNTY
AMBULANCE
DEPLOYMENT
STRATEGY
LEGEND
Existing
Huron County
Ambulance Station
Proposed
Ambulance
Station
Ambulance
Station in
Adjacent County
15 Minute
Response Time
Contour
!
Note: The existing
ambulance stations
in Huron County
would be closed
■■i
FIGURE 3
<MODEL
BASED ON
POPULATION
DENSITY
COVERAGE
I
•• ...
council gets a chance to do it right,”
he said.
But Robin Dunbar, reeve of Grey
argued that “right now, the system
makes no sense. I certainly don’t
believe we need more studies. If you
read the (consultants’) report the
information is there.”
Hambides said the recommenda
tion in his report does not change the
number of ambulances on duty, just
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their base stations. There will be fur
ther study when the county is actual
ly operating the stations to see if
there can be a more efficient use of
resources.
In a recorded vote the council
decided by a 50-5 count to go ahead
with the population density option.
Having accepted the four-site
option, county council will now call
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for ‘^expressions of interest” from
current operators or from hospitals to
provide the stations. The county also
voted to ask the Ministry of Health
and Long Term Care to provide com
plete costs of the operation of ambu
lances in Huron County including
those costs contained within hospital
budgets and contracts with private
operators.
MOH worried about Huron ’s
potential for water problem
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Could a Walkerton E. coli water
tragedy happen in Huron County?
Dr. Beth Henning, acting medical
office of health told county council,
Thursday, that she has concerns
about several issues.
Dr. Henning, who said she has
been harping on the subject of water
quality to the board of health for two
or three years, said she is concerned
about three issues, water security,
risk of contamination and actions
that should be taken.
Regarding water security, the doc
tor said little is known about the sta
tus of wells and well heads in most
of the county since the health unit
only receives samples if there is con
tamination. “The security of the
wells themselves deserves attention
but this is an enormous undertak
ing,” her report said. “There are hun
dreds of communal wells in our
county which should be assessed.”
In addition, she said, the protocols
for chlorination of water should be
assessed.
Water is at risk from contamina
tion from agricultural sources, faulty
sewage systems and bypasses of
municipal sewage systems during
heavy rains, she said,
Dr. Henning said she had been
assured that there is not a high den
sity of livestock in Huron but that’s
based on an average across the coun
ty. Some areas have much higher
populations and in these there can be
overloading of soil. And much of the
statistical information now available
precedes the recent building boom in
large livestock bams, Dr. Henning
said.
“Some of the solutions are not
complicated,” she said. “It astounds
me that we are still dealing with
them,” pointing to the problems of
cattle not being fenced off from
streams.
Whatever the source of water
problems, the evidence there is a
problem is ample, she said. Six of 18
county beaches tested regularly last
year had E. coli readings above the
provincial standards for swimming
more than 50 per cent of the time.
On the issue of taking action. Dr.
Henning said Huron County- had
made an excellent presentation to the
hearings into intensive livestock
conducted by MPP Douglas Galt.
Although a report from those hear
ings has not been issued, she expects
some of the recommendations from
Huron would be adopted by Gait’s
committee.
The aquifer study being conducted
in Huron will give more information
on the health of the ground-water
system, Dr. Henning said.
The county needs to look at the
safety of communal wells and aban
doned wells, she said.
While much of the focus on water
problems is on agriculture. Bob
Szusz, reeve of Hullett, expressed
his concerns with malfunctioning
municipal water systems that dump
large amounts of raw sewage into
Lake Huron.
Klaus Seeger, senior public health
inspector, admitted Goderich had
had problems this year with the fre
quent storms. The town has spent a
lot of money trying to cure the prob
lem of excess surface water going
into the sanitary sewer system and
overwhelming the sewage treatment
facilities, he said, and last year there
was only one such occurrence. This
year there have been more such
problems.
Huron aids
Walkerton
Huron County’s Health Unit
helped neighbours in Bruce cope
with the extra workload in the wake
of the Walkerton E. coli tragedy, Dr.
Beth Henning, acting medical officer
of health, told the county council,
July 6.
Laura Farrell, an environmental
health officer with the health unit
has been assisting the Bruce Grey
Health Unit with outbreak control
for four weeks, Dr. Henning said.
As well, five to seven staff have
helped out conducting epidemiolog
ic investigations in Walkerton.
Concern caused by the Walkerton
situation has inundated the health
unit with extra work. Normally there
are about four water samples
processed per week but 1,500 water
sampling kits have been handed out
since the crisis hit the news.
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