Last week, Chris d’Entremont asked Health Minister Randy Delorey in Question Period to review EHS changes that have increased response times for Pubnico-area residents.
d’Entremont says he hears continually from residents and local firefighters.
“I’m continually hearing that the ambulance is not at the base. I hear that call times continue to go up.”
The incident he refers to was the same day the Lieutenant Governor was at the Legion to present an award.
A member of the public required medical attention.
Health Minister Randy Delorey did not commit to the review that d’Entremont had requested but said work is ongoing to determine efficiencies across the province.
“We are continually being left uncovered for the smaller areas. I think this is a larger challenge for the government that the minister doesn’t want to or is avoiding the issue of transferring patients to Halifax and leaving the smaller areas uncovered.”
d’Entremont says that’s not good enough for the people of the Pubnico area.
He says paramedics and first responders are doing their best in what he calls “a broken and under-resourced system.
“In this case, when we talk about priority bases, maybe EHS is correct, that is no such thing. But, what we do know is that too many ambulances are being called out of our area, being called to transfer patients from Yarmouth Regional Hospital to Halifax. They’re getting stuck in the system in Halifax and are not being able to return quickly. We have a larger problem in this province where we do not have enough ambulances, we do not have enough paramedics in order to keep up with the call volumes that are presenting themselves.”
