Ambulance service remains big issue

Municipality of Argyle wants to restore priority status of Pubnico ambulance

Ongoing concern over ambulance response times in the Pubnico area has prompted the Municipality of Argyle to start a petition, with the goal of having the status of the community’s ambulance service brought back to what it once was.

Pubnico-area residents – and their representatives on Argyle council – say the ambulance situation remains a serious concern despite what statistics from the province might say.

Late last year – at the municipality’s request – Emergency Health Services provided data showing that, since a change was made to the ambulance deployment plan early in 2017, average response times had increased in the Pubnico area but had decreased for the broader Yarmouth- and- district area, which includes the Pubnicos and other communities.

According to the figures provided by EHS, for the period Feb. 1 to Nov. 1, the average response time for emergency calls ( calls with lights and sirens) in the Pubnico area was nine minutes and 30 seconds, about twoand-a-half minutes slower than for the same nine-month period in 2016, when it was seven minutes and one second.

The data for Yarmouth and district showed the average response time for emergency calls from Feb. 1 to Nov. 1, 2017, was nine minutes and 54 seconds, compared to 10 minutes and 49 seconds for the Feb. 1-to-Nov. 1 timeframe in 2016, an improvement of 55 seconds.

In his letter to the municipality, Jeff Fraser, EHS director of provincial operations, described the increase in response times in Pubnico as “very small.” That response times had gone down in the greater Yarmouth- anddistrict area, he said, “was our overall intent for making the changes.”

Last October, at a meeting of Argyle council – a session attended by many Pubnico- area residents concerned about their ambulance service – EHS representatives said it’s a matter of making the best use of resources and that the system is continually monitored and Argyle Coun. Glenn Diggdon makes a point while fellow council member Kathy Bourque looks on during Argyle council’s Jan. 9 meeting, where the Pubnico ambulance issue was discussed again. evaluated in an effort to ensure that ambulances are where they need to be and that communities are covered.

But the word from residents in the Pubnico area is that the problem with response times is more serious than the figures from EHS would suggest. During Argyle council’s discussion of the matter at its regular meeting of Jan. 9, it was suggested the response time averages provided by EHS perhaps do not paint an accurate picture of what’s happening.

Glenn Diggdon, one of the Pubnico-area councillors – and a former paramedic – acknowledged the numbers for the broader district may have improved, but he said it has been at the expense of the Pubnico area.

“I don’t think one person’s gain should be another person’s loss,” he said.