Region wants to take over ambulance dispatch from the province

The Region of Waterloo will remind the province it wantsto take over operational control of ambulance dispatch to provide better serviceto residents.

On Tuesday at a committee meeting, regional councillors voted in favour of a recommendation to reiterate to the premier, Minister of Health Christine Elliott and local MPPs that the region wants to take on land ambulance dispatch. Currently, the province oversees ambulance dispatch officers.

That's come under scrutiny after the Cambridge call centre was closed in December due to a staffing shortage. Those dispatchers were moved to the Hamilton office but critics noted the Hamilton office didn't have automatic number identification (the phone number where the call originates) and automatic location identifier (ANI/ALI) data to help them identify the precise location of a call.

The region's paramedic services and the Ministry of Health have both launched investigations into a call on Dec. 23 where an ambulance was initially sent to the wrong location before being correctly directed to a St. Jacobs address.

Stephen Van Valkenburg, chief of paramedic services, told councillors at the community services committee meeting Hamilton gained access to the ANI/ALI data at 1:55 p.m. Tuesday.

'Time to absolutely get aggressive with the province'

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said he's concerned about recent reports of overworked staff and lengthy wait times at hospitals as paramedics wait to offload patients.

He was also concerned to hear ambulance dispatchers were moved to Hamilton and "out of our community which isn't, quite frankly, serving residents of Waterloo region in the most effective way possible."

Coun. Michael Harris said he advocated for the region to be able to take over ambulance dispatch when he served as an MPP. He said he hoped a change in government might mean the province is more receptive to the idea.

"I hope our region staff work collaboratively with the new officials at Queen's Park and hopefully we can get them convinced to come to the table," he said. "Now is the time to absolutely get aggressive with the province."

Process could take years

Cambridge-area regional Coun. Helen Jowett told the meeting she and Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry were serving a Christmas lunch at a church last month when a man collapsed. The 911 call went to the Hamilton centre and she said people waited outside the church for the ambulance.

"We waited and we waited and then we found out from the dispatch that they couldn't find it on GPS and so an off-duty officer had to actually give them directions on how to get to the church. I think that's quite problematic," she said.

McGarry said she would like to see better service as soon as possible.

"For me, it's vitally important that we move forward with whatever we can do to streamline the services and provide better response times," she said.

Van Valkenburg said if the province gave the region the go-ahead to take over ambulance dispatch, it's a process that would be more than a few months and could take one or two years.

The decision in committee still needs to be ratified at the regular regional council meeting on Jan. 16.