Summer ambulance could operate year-round
Peterborough County-City Paramedics could soon have an 11th ambulance year-round to help cover the county — rather than just in summer, during the height of the cottage and tourism season.
Currently, the paramedics have 10 ambulances plus an 11th one they station between Lakefield and Buckhorn for use exclusively in summer (from May to September).
But Randy Mellow, chief of Peterborough County-City Paramedics, said they’re busy and could use that additional ambulance on the road yearround.
With an aging and growing population, he said, demand on the service will only increase. Meanwhile, paramedics are so busy right now that many of them can’t get a lunch break.
On Wednesday, county council voted to consider a scenario, at budget time next winter, that keeps that 11th ambulance on the road year-round.
A county staff report states that it would mean keeping the existing staff on the Buckhorn ambulance (two fulltime paramedics) plus add six new positions to create a permanent, yearround, 24-hour ambulance.
The staff report states that the plan would improve response times both in the city and county during the six months of the year that the Buckhorn ambulance is currently not deployed (October to April.)
The service, which is jointly funded by the city, county and province, has 20 ambulances stationed at bases on Clonsilla and Armour Road (headquarters) in the city, as well as in Lakefield, Norwood, Apsley and at a seasonal base in Buckhorn.
Under the proposed plan, the Buckhorn ambulance would come off the road as usual in September and stay off until April 1, 2019 — at which time it would come online on a permanent basis.
County council voted Wednesday to recommend this plan to the joint services steering committee (the citycounty committee that governs shared services, such as paramedics) for use in the draft budget documents for 2019.
The plan for the additional yearround ambulance comes at a cost, though: the report states that the city’s share would be $499,170 for 2019, and the county’s share would be $346,474.
That’s roughly a 10 per cent increase for each of the city and county, for paramedic services next year.
But there’s a reserve fund available to both the city and county to apply to this expense.
The county staff report explains that an unused reserve fund of roughly $1.4 million, meant to cover the cost of ambulances crossing over from the City of Kawartha Lakes into the Peterborough territory, is no longer needed.
That’s because ambulances no longer cross into the Peterborough territory from the City of Kawartha Lakes: if anything, for the last several years, it’s been the other way around.
The money would have to be divvied up between the city, county and province, though — they all own the service.
After they dip into the reserves in 2019, the report states, the cost to the city for next year would be roughly $77,000 (rather than $499,170) and the cost to the county would be $34,000 (rather than $346,474).