Huron Expositor, 2016-10-05, Page 1112 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Huron County
council stays pat on
ending ACP program
Darryl Coote
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 termi-
nate the service for all of
Huron County.
Brad Watters, a Huron
County ACP and vice presi-
dent of the Canadian Union
for Public Employees
(CUPE) 4513, told media fol-
lowing the vote that he was
"disappointed" with coun-
cil's decision.
"We went in optimistic
about it and we were hop-
ing for obviously a different
result," he said outside the
council chambers.
The issue over the ACP
program first arose in June
and was followed by
lengthy debates at Huron
County council.
Those in favour of keep-
ing the program claimed
ACPs provide better health-
care through being better
trained and more capable
than Primary Care Para-
medics (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 ear-
marked 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 munici-
pal counties and holding
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 County Wednesday
after it was tabled by Central
Huron County in early Sep-
tember following 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
mayors received legal advice
and new undisclosed infor-
mation 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 previ-
ously voted to keep the pro-
gram now voting against
rescinding.
Goderich Mayor Kevin
Morrison told council that
while he voted to keep the
program in July and that he
still sees the ACP as a "bene-
ficial" program for Huron
County, he can't vote to
rescind.
"Upon the information
provided by our solicitor
today, I have a problem with
rescinding this motion the
way it is now and I'm
pleased council is dealing
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
council's decision was we
had to have new informa-
tion, and with the new infor-
mation that we did receive
from the county solicitor in
the closed 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 recommenda-
tion from Goderich council
because I will not welcome
recommendations from the
municipality what we should
do and I don't expect to get
any there," he said, adding
Darryl Coote/Editor
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.
that he originally voted to
end the program through
attrition.
He said that council needs
to consider the proper con-
text of the situation to make
the proper judgement, the
decision facing council does
not have as an extreme out-
come as some have
suggested.
"This is not the situation
were on the one hand it's
utopia and on the other
hand it's perdition," he said.
For him, the infrequency
of ACPs responding to calls,
which he cited at less than
50 per cent, and
the infrequency of them
performing procedures
PCPs aren't trained to per-
form 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 document 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
discussion as we have no
new information that needs
to be evaluated," he said.
Jim Ginn, mayor of Cen-
tral Huron, said he thinks
healthcare should be
decided by the province, but
since it's in council's hands,
he is opposed to rescinding.
"It's very hard to ask
someone to review informa-
tion 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 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
ensure our citizens have the
best they can and I'm sure
with an aging population
and with the demands on
healthcare, hospital care is
only going in the opposite
direction of the decision
today. I think we will see it
rehash itself at one point in
time," he said.