Ottawa councillor calls Prescott and Russell ambulance plan 'despicable'

An Ottawa city councillor is calling the latest move from rural counties in a long-simmering dispute over ambulance services, "despicable," "disappointing," and "irresponsible."

The United Counties of Prescott and Russell announced changes Wednesday that will mean its paramedics and ambulances spend less time answering calls outside its borders, particularly fromOttawa.

The community's council directed its emergency services department to make ambulances that have dropped off a patient outside that area unavailable to take another call until they've returned totheir home base.

Currently, ambulances can be dispatched to another call before they return to their community, if they are the closest available unit.

Ottawa Coun. Scott Moffatt said the move risks patient safety.

"To all of a sudden suggest that you are going to keep driving just to get back to within your own borders is incredibly disappointing and it's really despicable you would take such a stance, that puts lives at risk," he said.

Communities bordering the City of Ottawa have long complained the current ambulance dispatch system of sending the closest ambulance to a call meansthey're spending too much time and moneyresponding to calls in Ottawa.

They say Ottawa isn't funding its own paramedic service sufficiently, and surrounding municipalities are beingforced to bear the burden as a result.

• Rural counties call on province to right impasse over Ottawa ambulance 'shortfall'
• Ottawa pulls out of tentative deal with rural paramedics
• Ottawa without ambulances for hours on weekend

Prescott and Russell said itwouldn't make changes for 60 days to give time for a solution to be worked out.

No surprise

Michel Chrtien, director of emergency services with Prescott and Russell, said they want to force a discussion on the issue, because right now their ambulance service is being stretched.

"We're saying to the ministry we have a right to manage our fleet," he said. "I am really concerned that something will happen one day in our community where all of our resources will be somewhere else."

Chrtien said this has been a long-time coming and the counties wantthe ministry of health and long-term care to step in. He said there need to be standards to force a community to have adequate service and not to overly rely on neighbours.

He said after two years of complaining about the issue they needed to take a stand.

"I don't think this will be a surprise to anybody. We have been leaning that way for a long time."

The counties also said they would help in urgent situations, but not on an everyday basis as they are now.

Ottawa taking away resources, municipality says

6 years ago

Duration 0:20

Mike Chrtien, director of emergency services for Prescott-Russell, says the municipality has the right to manage its fleet.

Moffatt said patients, potentially in life-threatening situations, are going to be put at risk if this move goes ahead.

"To use potential patients, to use paramedics as a pawn between those two municipalities is irresponsible," he said.

Emergency services workers in Prescott and Russell, which lies east of Ottawa, have said the number of outside calls for paramedic service has risen dramatically since 2016.

The City of Ottawapulled out of a tentative agreement with neighbouring municipalities in Augustthat would have seen outside paramedics responding onlyto calls involvingcardiac arrest or an unconscious patient.

Ottawa hired 12 new paramedics in 2016 and was in the process of training 24 more at its last update in September 2017.