"Ambulance Drivers" Good Enough for Municipal Politicians?

A recent story in the Virden Empire-Advance, a weekly newspaper serving the Virden area, is indicative of how much old-fashioned thinking still exists in the political arena, especially in many southern Manitoba municipalities.

The article, (Ambulance Agonies, written by Brent Fitzpatrick), which appeared in the Virden Empire-Advance on Saturday, January 20 says many of the local politicians in that area think the new training requirements for ambulance attendants in Manitoba "go too far". Oak Lake mayor Jeff Sigurdson says "They are pretty much getting a doctor to do volunteer work." Roland Gagnon, mayor of Elkhorn suggests that if local residents can't just be a driver anymore it may be "tough to have people come forward to volunteer to be an ambulance attendant." R.M. of Pipestone Reeve Ross Tycoles adds "Something needs to be done now...we're going to push for a group meeting with the RHA."

For a politician at any level of government to think that education for EMS providers in this province should be dictated by the ability to recruit volunteer ambulance drivers is inconceivable! It takes us back twenty, thirty, maybe even forty years...to the days when an ambulance was nothing more than a quick ride to a hospital. Unfortunately this thinking isn't limited to one or two municipal officials. I've heard it from councillors, mayors, reeves...even some MLAs. For reasons that are absolutely mind-boggling to me, they argue that improvements that have been made to EMS in Manitoba over the past few years have done nothing more than eliminate opportunities for local residents to volunteer for the ambulance service.

There's no doubt that the education requirements set out in the new regulations may necessitate the need for a strategic review of how best to ensure Manitobans have access to EMS on a timely basis. But this article clearly suggests that too many of the people tasked with governing our communities still understand very little about paramedicine and the very real benefit a strong pre-hospital service brings to their residents.

Your local politicians need to understand that changes to training requirements for ambulance attendants won't spell the end of service for some smaller communities...they will ensure that residents in all Manitoba communities have access to appropriate emergency health care when they need it most. Volunteers built our EMS system, and they struggled to hold it together for decades. But to even suggest that we should return to a system that relies on community volunteers trained in emergency first aid as a foundation around which to build an EMS system scares me...and I was one of those volunteers!

I encourage you to contact your local government officials and see where they stand on this issue...especially if you live in the Virden area!

To download a pdf copy of the article from the PAM website click here. The quality of this pdf file is poor, but it's worth reading anyway.

Our letter to the Editor of the Virden Empire-Advance can be viewed here. This was copied to the governments quoted in the article as well as to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.