The mayor of Southgate is not impressed with a recent report on ambulance response times.
Don Lewis says it’s unacceptable that Southgate residents are waiting between 19 and 30 minutes for ambulances to arrive.
That compares to an average of about 6 minutes in Owen Sound.
Lewis says it’s a matter of geography, with lengthy response times being characteristic of the south east area of Grey County.
Lewis says a solution would be training firefighters as first responders.
He says in rural areas, volunteer firefighters are right in the communities and so have excellent response times.
In the three tiered response system, Lewis says you have three very qualified groups – firefighters, paramedics, and police – showing up.
He says that’s very expensive – a half ambulance service costs 400-thousand dollars a year.
Lewis would like to see some of that money go to more training and equipment for firefighters.
Lewis says he has no problem with the work the ambulance system is doing, but says the solution can’t be to spend huge amounts of money to buy ambulances to wait everywhere.
Lewis says he knows there is opposition to this idea, especially from paramedics.
He also adds some volunteer firefighters may not want the added responsibility either.
But Lewis says there are areas in North America where the firemedic system is used successfully and he would like it looked into further.
The Dundalk Fire Department is the currently the only one in Grey County to have first responder status.
Lewis is hoping to see that expanded.