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Huron Expositor, 2000-07-05, Page 22 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, July e, 2000 News Partnership wantsambulances closely linked to hospitals Area reeves criticise hospitals for not saving money By Scott Hilgendorff Expositor Editor A presentation to explain the Huron Perth Hospital Partnership's position on the ambulance service restructuring turned into an ambush after Mayor Dave Scott opened the meeting up to questions from anyone in the council chambers. Bonnie Adamson, president of the partnership, came to council's June 27 meeting to outline the hospital's stand as the county prepares to take on operation of ambulance services when the province downloads them this January. County council is debating changes that could see Seaforth's ambulance service, along with several others in the county, moved into rural locations for potential cost -savings. However, Adamson said the partnership would like ambulance services either linked directly with, or moved close to, each hospital, since the hospitals are involved with most of the calls. Where or if costs will be saved in any of the possible options remains part of the on-going debate as county "council prepares to make a decision this month. A restructuring meeting followed the council meeting which saw several area reeves and councillors at the meeting and Mayor Scott opened the meeting up to any questions from the room. Grey Township reeve, Robin Dunbar and McKillop Township reeve, Bill Seimon directed several questions at Adamson about the costs. Dunbar accused the hospitals of operating in a deficit position with the most expensive and longest response times while county residents face.the costs. "Our perspective is not built on dollars," said Adamson. Instead, she said the partnership position was made based on patient care, adding the partnership will be the primary customer of the county's ambulance service. She said they are requesting the quality of care provided by the paramedics and the services they provide remain the same and that quality could best be generated with the ambulance at or close to the hospitals. Tuckersmith Township councillor Paul Spittal expressed concern about an overlap of services between ambulance coverage areas in Goderich and Seaforth, with Clinton in the middle. Seaforth councillor Michael Hak asked, "Are we looking at dollars or quality of care and life?" He used an option the county is looking at in Goderich as an example explaining how the ambulance service could be moved from beside the hospital to Carlow, about 12 km outside the town. Paramedics on call would have to get from town to Carlow and then back to the population centre in Goderich where most of their calls would originate. While Seaforth reeve Lin Steffler said the Scaforth base could overlap with Clinton, "There is not a duplication of services. Each serves a specific hospital." Mayor Scott said he was concerned the county's consultants, which prepared a report suggesting how ambulance services could be moved into rural areas, have prepared •a report that could make the ambulance service worse. • He said the county could face law suits if lives are lost due to increased response times. "Given the situation in Hospital waits for decision from county before proceeding From Pogo 1 handle this non -emergency part of paramedic duties. ' The position statement says while it is important to review patient transfer patterns, the hospitals have no resources for a separate transportation service. Adamson said a study needs to be done before making decisions that affect how patients are transferred. She told council the hospitals consider road -side care of patients by paramedics as important as caring for a critical patient at the hospitals. The partnership's position statement includes a recommendation to maintain or improve the quality of ambulance care. But Adamson said the one part of their position statement they believe is, the most serious is the need to keep the ambulance bases that are already at or near hospitals, like in Goderich ,and Seaforth, until some time after the downloading has occurred and Quoted The hospital board feels it's important to have the base in town ' and is willing to make that commitment,'--l hospitals vlc all=dent Andrew the county has had time to study the issue further. • That position has been supported by the Seaforth medical community and town council. "The hospital board feels it's important or the community to have a base in town and is willing to make that commitment," said Williams. He said the board's willingness to have the base built removes pressure on the county regarding capital cost issues that are, part of the county debate on the decision. If the hospital is able to go ahead and build an ambulance base, he said they will look for county input into what it needs for that base. such as the number of vehicles that would be housed there, and will follow clear government guidelines. "We haven't done a detailed costing yet." he said, adding they will also need to seek the support of the provincial government. Council will try to get work done before Legion needs to take pictures of statue From Page 1 request from the Legion to repair the cenotaph and after discussion that revealed it was the town's responsibility, agreed the work needed to be done. "Sadly, it was obvious this memorial has received only limited attention in recent times," she reported to council after discovering broken beer bottles, garbage and even a dead animal among the overgrown shrubs. Grass and weeds are growing up in the cracks in the cenotaph base and corner stones are loose. Moss is growing on the statue and the base. Steffler also pointed out there is a light standard that they should make sure is operational and lit to deter people from damaged the cenotaph because they would be more noticeable. "It . may help the problem," she said. Administrator • Jack McLachlan' warned that they wanted to be very careful they didn't harm the statue in their haste to get the work done because, after a number of years, it would be in a fragile state. Coun. Heather Robinet suggested they seek help from the horticultural society for the landscaping to help make sure they don't put plants in that will later contribute to a similar problem of hiding and damaging the cenotaph. But Steffler said the Legion had committed to doing the landscaping as their part of the project and that Legion members likely have ties to the horticultural society as well. When the Legion first approached council with the request, they obtained a quote for the work from a Legion member but council sought further quotes and have since asked Pete Jansen to do the work. TKA P PHPALS ,CP „ARE COM -PUTTERS LAPTOPS Hata & Ofia Coiputr Pfodlfd & Stam 319�1i1�tEve lbiDonk ititritford !WO% 111.7P1 CONGRATULATIONS Grads • tom,-• We Are Here For Your Needs TKO COMPUTERS INCL UDg 2 Year Parts/Labour Warrant;' Modem: 56K PCi HOST Samsung Monitor: I1" .21 Keyboard, Floppy Drive Software: Antivirus K611 SOHO Sy em 'CPU 500MHZ AMD K611 • 64M, 56K Modem '17' Monitor, Network Card $1775 Pill Value System 'CPU: 500MHZ Intel PiII 'Hard Drive: 13 GIG Ultradma '15" Monitor $1700 Walkerton. I don't think you can spend too much money on health care," he said. Other comments at the meeting included the need for new facilities because some, including Seaforth. Goderich and Wingham's. were not up to proper government standards: Andrew Williams. a vice president in the partnership and administrator of Seaforth Community Hospital. said costs don't come from overhead or buildings hut from the staffing and level of service. He said the consultant's report talks about adding services. "We have to he careful when looking at efficiencies." said Williams. For real peace of nand, look tot this symbol r l protection. We provide insurance protection that lets you slap at night. That's because the collective strength of our 50 community based mutual insurers makes us among the most financially secure insurance networks in the world. For you, it means friendly knowledgeable service from people who understand your needs and provide the protection"and service you want. 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Our staff is small and we do have to pick and choose what receives coverage each week. At the same time, we try to meet Canadian Community Newspaper Association standards and use those standards to guide us through decisions of coverage. We try to keep the newspaper active iri appearance. placing an emphasis on photographs that are active and more likely to catch a reader's eye: instead of static photos of "presentations or successful groups of peo- ple, unless we have been able to capture the activity the group was. involved in, we often will include the information in news briefs and reports. Also,The Huron Expositor works with students, providing them with photo assignments, or will seek the help of a community member when photographs are straight forward and don't require special skills or equipment. The Expositor, like most Canadian Community Newspaper Association publications, does not purchase photographs for use in the newspapers. Photographs must be taken by staff or arrangements made from community members to provide us with photographs. We encourage community members to make sure The Huron Expositor is aware of your event or requests for coverage, with as much advance notice as possible. While not everything. can be covered, community members are asked to make sure The Huron Expositor is aware of their events and activities so they may. be considered for publication. Improving comm unica tion to improve satisfaction." 1` i oEzE; .* lRNAREA 100 Main St. Seaforth 527-0240 1