HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-09-28, Page 5Huron County council stays
put on ending ACP program
Darryl Coote
Postmedia Network
Huron County council voted
Wednesday morning to stand
with its previous decision to
eliminate its Advanced Care
Paramedic (ACP) program.
Roughly 40 citizens and over
a dozen paramedics who filled
the chambers and spilled out
into the hallway during council
Sept. 21 were silent as council
voted 11 to three against
rescinding its July 6th decision
to terminate the service for all of
Huron County.
Brad Watters, a Huron
County ACP and vice president
of the Canadian Union for Pub-
lic Employees (CUPE) 4513,
told media following the vote
that he was "disappointed" with
council's decision.
"We went in optimistic about
it and we were hoping for obvi-
ously a different result," he said
outside the council chambers.
The issue over the ACP pro-
gram first arose in June and was
followed by lengthy debates at
Huron County council.
Those in favour of keeping
the program claimed ACPs pro-
vide better healthcare through
being better trained and more
capable than Primary Care Par-
amedics (PCP).
Those opposed said it costs
too much to justify infrequent
emergency healthcare service
as there are not enough ACPs to
deal with every emergency call.
And hiring additional, less -
expense PCPs with the money
currently earmarked for ACPs
could lower emergency
response times and improve
service to the outer regions of
the county.
Since the narrow July vote to
end the program, members of
the public have been protesting
Huron County's decision
through sending letters to
municipal counties and hold-
ing presentations during coun-
cils. They even started a change.
org petition that has almost
2,000 signatures in support of
continuing the ACP program.
The motion came back to
Huron CountyWednesday after
it was tabled by Central Huron
County in early September fol-
lowing its council having
received a deluge of opposition
to ending the program from its
constituency.
Once proceedings began
Wednesday morning, the
crowd was asked to leave for a
closed session where the may-
ors received legal advice and
new undisclosed information
on the matter from the county's
solicitor.
However, when council
resumed, the mayors were
unwavered by the new infor-
mation or the full council
chambers.
While the original vote was a
narrow eight to seven, this one
was heavily slanted with many
who had previously voted to
keep the program now voting
against rescinding.
Goderich Mayor Kevin Mor-
rison told council that while he
voted to keep the program in
July and that he still sees the
ACP as a "beneficial" program
for Huron County, he can't vote
to rescind.
"Upon the information pro-
vided by our solicitor today, I
have a problem with rescinding
this motion the way it is now
and I'm pleased council is deal-
ing with this in a public form,"
he said.
To rescind the motion would
set a bad precedent, he told The
Signal Star in a follow up
interview.
"In order for me to go back
on what the majority of coun-
cil's decision was we had to
have new information, and
with the new information that
we did receive from the county
solicitor in the dosed session it
did not warrant me to support
the motion to rescind, he said.
Goderich Deputy Mayor Jim
Donnelly agreed with the
stance, telling county council
he opposed a motion at his
Goderich council similar to the
one Central Huron passed on
this premise.
"I voted not to bring this to
council as a recommendation
from Goderich council because
I will not welcome recommen-
dations from the municipality
what we should do and I don't
expect to get any there, he said,
adding that he originally voted
to end the program through
attrition.
He said that council needs to
consider the proper context of
the situation to make the
proper judgement, the decision
facing council does not have as
an extreme outcome as some
have suggested.
"This is not the situation were
on the one hand it's utopia and
on the other hand it's perdi-
tion," he said.
For him, the infrequency of
ACPs respondingto calls, which
he cited at less than 50 per cent,
and the infrequency of them
performing procedures PCPs
aren't trained to perform make
the service too expensive with
rising taxes.
Both councillor Roger Wyatt,
the deputy reeve for Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh, and
Huron East mayor Bernie
MacLellan said that while
council was given a large docu-
ment of information none of it
was new.
Bernie said he is against
rescinding because they had all
the information in July.
"I see no reason to bring it
back and have another discus-
sion as we have no new infor-
mation that needs to be evalu-
ated;' he said.
Jim Ginn, mayor of Central
Huron, said he thinks health-
care should be decided by the
province, but since it's in coun-
cil's hands, he is opposed to
rescinding.
"It's very hard to ask some-
one to review information and
come to a different conclusion,
and I can't do that," he said.
The motion was defeated
without a recorded vote.
CUPE 4513 Watters told the
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 • News Record 5
media following council that
he is not going to continue
fighting council's decision,
but he believes the issue of
ACPs in Huron County will be
revisited in time.
"I'm sure it will come up
again one day in the future....
I'm sure there's a younger
generation who wants to
Photos by Darryl Coote Postmedia Network
ensure our citizens have the
best they can and I'm sure
with an aging population and
with the demands on health-
care, hospital care is only
going in the opposite direc-
tion of the decision today. I
think we will see it rehash
itself at one point in time," he
said.