'Christmas in November': Saint-Quentin gets increased ambulance service after long battle

Residents of Saint-Quentin are breathing a sighof reliefafter Medavie's president told the community Thursday night it would be getting asecond full-time ambulance to respond to emergencies.

It's something people in the rural New Brunswick community had been fighting for, fortwo years, after multiple incidents whereambulances took more than 40 minutes to respond.

In a few cases, residents even questioned whether a quicker response would have made the difference between life-and-death.

• Saint-Quentin accident raises more questions about ambulance service in N.B.

• Ambulance NB promises to ease emergency response delays in Saint-Quentin

RichardLosier, the president of Medaviepresident and chief executive officer of Ambulance New Brunswick, was in Saint-Quentinfor a meeting with the mayor, and other community members, who hadbeen advocating for better services.

Saint-Quentin Mayor NicoleSomers came out of the hour and a half long meeting happy.

"It's Christmas in November," said Somers.

Several Saint-Quentin residents, despite not being invited to the closed-door meeting, came to city hall to find out the news first hand.

The issue hasbeen top of mind for the small community an hour east of Edmundston.

"It's about time somebody listened to us," said Ben Cyr.

"It's a surprise honestly. We're really happy."

The news came after things seemed to have reached a breaking point two weeks agowhen residents said a class-action lawsuit againstMedavie, which manages Ambulance New Brunswick, and the province, might be the onlyway forward.

After a meeting, residents agreed to give Medavieuntil Nov. 1 to come up with solutions.

ForSomers, getting a second full-timeambulance was make or break.

"They finally realized that we needed that," she said.

The area from Saint-Quentin to Menneval, about a 45-kilometre stretch is served by a single full-time ambulance. The second ambulance is on call between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Losier said he recognized the region had a problem.

"They're an hour away, each side, from a regional hospital. They have a small very small hospital. They don't have four-lane highways, [they have a] tremendous amount of traffic because of the forestry industry, injurieslot of transfers also from the hospital."

"We were quite desperate," said Somers.

"It came to a pointemergencies came up and we had no response. People were afraid."

8 positions to fill

The extra hours of servicemean Medavie will have to fill eight paramedic positions in the area six full-time and two-part time, said Losier.

Medaviepromisedthe changes wouldbe in place byDec. 27.

It's a small time-frame, but Losiersaid there will be no incentives to bring paramedicsto the area.

"Will that change in the future? I don't know. Time will tell."

"I'm confident people want to work. There's going to be positions available," he said.

Eighty-twoparamedics are expected to have graduated by the end of the year from training programs in the province.

Other regions dissatisfied too

Ambulance services have come under fire lately, and not just in Saint-Quentin.

People on the Acadian Peninsula complained too, with issues reported just this week in Lamque, where a 13-year-old boy's family had to wait around 40 minutes for an ambulanceafter the teen fell off an ATV.

Earlier this week, the Acadian Society of New Brunswick called for an end to the contract between Medavie and the province, and the topic of ambulance serviceshas dominated politicsin recent weeks.

Losiersaid he expects other regions might come knocking on his door nowand said he is willing to work with the different communities.

"I'm not going to say it's a walk in the park," said Losierof the past few weeks.

"Theparamedics are working very hard...they're doing their best. We're under the microscope."