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Frontenac_management

Frontenac Management

Jan 2001

LAND O'LAKES NewsWeb Home

Frontenac Management contracts with current providers for ambulance services.By David Brison

In 1997, the Provincial government announced that land ambulance services would be downloaded to the municipalities as of January 1, 2001. The Frontenac Management Board had to hustle to meet that deadline, and it took a lot of hard work and careful planning.

The Board announced on December 27, 2000, that the services would be contracted to the Kingston Regional ambulance service, the Parham Ambulance Service, and the Wolfe Island Volunteer Ambulance Service - the same organizations that are already providing the services.

For the past 30 years, the Ontario Ministry of Health has been the provider of ambulance services. They ensured that the services met quality standards, and they also operated the dispatch service. The Ministry will continue to operate the dispatch service. Emergency calls are routed to the nearest available ambulance service by the dispatch centre in Kingston. This results in a seamless system which crosses county lines and municipal jurisdictions. For instance, calls from Silver Lake in Frontenac County are often handled by a service in Lanark County. Lennox & Addington services often respond to calls in North Frontenac and the Parham service frequently goes outside the County This seamless system will continue to be part of the downloaded services. Phil Leonard, Mayor of South Frontenac and the new Chair of the Management Board, says, "We are quite pleased to have everything in place. It took a great deal of time and work to get it done. There will be no break in services." Leonard points out that there are still issues to be resolved. "The Province has based funding on 1996 costs and we all know they have gone up since then. We have submitted a budget based on our projection of costs and we will have to see how they respond. Some costs, such as insurance will go up. The ministry system was self-insured and we will not be able to do that."

Labour costs might also go up in the new system. Paramedics are members of OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union). OPSUE negotiated contracts with the Province under the old system and this resulted in a uniform wage. Now that the services are downloaded, OPSEU will negotiate with each individual contractor. If the union is able to negotiate a large increase with one contractor, there will be a tendency to extend these increases to other contracted services.

Tom Bedford has been appointed as the Land Ambulance Manager. He will be responsible for overseeing the services provided by the contractors. Tom has worked on the transition phase for the past 18 months. He was a paramedic in Toronto for 18 years, and for 6 years was responsible for the training of paramedics in Kingston. Tom says, "I am optimistic that municipalities will be able to make localized improvements in the ambulance services. The Ministry of Health ran a very good service, but municipalities can be more responsive to rural needs."

Bedford's comments are echoed by Dave Gemmill, owner of the Parham Ambulance Service. He employs four full-time and 11 part-time paramedics. "I like the idea of being able to deal with our Mayors and local officials, instead of faceless bureaucrats who often don't understand our local problems. I am looking forward to the new year," he says.

The Parham ambulance service has a long history in the region. It was operated for years by Goodfellow's Funeral Home, then was bought in the 70's by David Hansen, before being purchased by Dave Gemmill in 1994.

With the participation of the Government of Canada