Proposed Ambulance cuts will put residents at greater risk

Algoma District Services Administration Board is planning to reduce ambulance services in Hornepayne and Dubreuilville. These cuts will also affect neighbouring communities as well.

The proposed plan is to reduce service from 24 hours a day to 16 hours a day in Hornepayne and Dubreuilville. Paramedics will be on duty for eight hours and on call for the other eight hours. In the case of Dubreuilville, the last 8 hours will be serviced by an ambulance coming from White River or Wawa. This will add a possible 45 minutes to the response time, and perhaps more if the roads are poor or even closed. It is not clear who would provide service in Hornepayne

This is quite a gamble.

The big question that hasn’t been answered is what happens when the Wawa ambulance is providing a land transfer to Sault Ste. Marie. Currently, the ambulance does make land transfers from the Lady Dunn Health Centre to the Soo. In that case, the ambulance from Dubreuilville moves up to the Jct of Hwy 17/519 so that it can respond if needed to Wawa or Dubreuilville. If Dubreuilville is responding, White River will now move to the Jct of Hwy 17/519 to respond to all three communities.

So, this is actually a huge gamble.

This is not hoping that your card will come up in a poker game – this is people’s lives. An accident on the highway will tie up an ambulance, a land transfer ties up services… Can you imagine doing CPR on a family member in Dubreuilville, waiting, waiting for an ambulance to come from White River? Or in Wawa, waiting for the ambulance to come from the Jct of Hwy 17/519? Now can you imagine if the highway is closed?

Wawa residents have a huge stake in this.

This is not an issue that will affect Dubreuilville, White River, and Hornepayne only. Wawa-news cannot speak to the difficulties that will now face Hornepayne. Residents of these communities must lobby together to prevent these changes. Your loved one(s) may be at risk.