Buckhorn gets second ambulance

Peterborough County-City Paramedics aim to decrease response time in 2019 to Trent Lakes — where it can take 18 minutes for an ambulance to arrive — by adding another ambulance in Buckhorn.

The idea is to convert an ambulance previously used in Buckhorn during limited hours in the summer into a full-time, yearround ambulance in 2019.

County council plans to consider that at budget time this winter; it would mean keeping the ambulance on the road full-time and year-round in Buckhorn starting April 1.

At a county council meeting Wednesday, paramedics Chief Randy Mellow told council this “enhancement” of the service would help improve response times to Trent Lakes in 2019.

He presented a report to councillors that shows average response times in the city and County of Peterborough in 2017: in the city, it took five minutes and nine seconds on average to get an ambulance. The county overall average was 12 minutes, 19 seconds.

The wait in Trent Lakes, where Buckhorn is located, exceeds the county average by a few minutes. The average response time for an ambulance last year was 18 minutes and 21 seconds.