Denbigh ambulance service survives the latest challenge

Jeff Green | Nov 22, 2017

It seems that every time Lennox and Addington County Council considers making changes or upgrades to its ambulance service, the question of whether to keep the Denbigh service up and running comes up.

It happened again last week, at a meeting of Council on November 15. Council is intent on establishing a service in Stone Mills township, and one way to help finance it would be to cut the 12 hour a day service based out of Denbigh.

“I am getting tired of continuing to have to argue that even though there are not a lot of calls to Denbigh, the service is essential because of the distances involved. There are also two provincial highways that meet at Denbigh, 41 and 28,” Hogg said when contacted over the phone after the meeting.”

A motion was passed at an L&A Council meeting last year which instructed staff to look for a location in Denbigh where a permanent base can be constructed, but that has not led anywhere. And when the agenda came out for a discussion about the proposed Stone Mills base, one of the options on the table was cutting the Denbigh service and serving the north from the Northbrook base, which has a 24 hour a day service.

At the meeting last week Council decided to proceed with a new based in Stone Mills, seek a permanent location for the Loyalist base. An in camera session followed, and after that the following motion was passed: that the current ambulance service level be maintained in Denbigh, and that council direct staff to proceed with the purchase of ambulance vehicles as required.”

One of the concerns about the Denbigh service is that the current location for the ambulance is in a rental property.

While the details of the in camera session were not revealed, the minutes from the meeting say that after the in camera, Warden Lowry “reported that Council considered a potential property acquisition in closed session.”

Township float for Northbrook and Denbigh parades

At the Santa Claus parades on December 2 in Northbrook (10 am) and Denbigh (6pm) there may be a new float.

In response to a proposal by Teri Woods, the wife of township road crew member Rodney, council accepted her offer to decorate a trailer for use in both of the parades. Council will also spend $200 for candy, etc. To give out during the parades, and members of council will ride in the parades as they wish.

Council meeting times set to change

In response to a proposal from Councillor Helen Yanch, meetings will be held on Tuesdays starting in January. The first meeting of the month will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at the Flinton Recreation Centre at 1pm, and the second will take place in Denbigh on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. In the months of January to March, November and December, the meeting will take place at 1pm, and from April until October it will take place at 7pm.