Province Funds New EMS Station

Earlier this week Premier Gary Doer announced funding to build and staff a new EMS facility within the Interlake Region. The absence of an ambulance in the areas of East and West St Paul have been a consistent topic of debate in the legislature's Question Period since the death of a prominent area resident nearly two years ago.

I was invited by Health Minister Theresa Oswald to attend this announcement. I took advantage of the invitation and used the opportunity to meet very briefly with the Premier...something we've been trying to make happen for almost two years now. As an aside to the funding story, I was assured by Premier Doer that he would like to meet formally with us in the coming weeks.

The funding announced to build and operate this new EMS facility is quite substantial. The capital cost approved for erecting the station is close to $300,000.00, which by Manitoba Health standards should result in a two bay garage with modest living accommodations for staff. The promise to cover operating expenses at an annual cost of approximately $525,000.00 equates to 24-hour full time staffing of one ambulance. While the province has built a number of new EMS facilities over the course of the past 7 years, most have been replacement buildings. To my knowledge this is only the second "new" location adding to existing resources (Kinnesota Trails being the other). On the surface...a "good news" story for Manitoba EMS.

But in my mind this announcement also sounds a number of warning bells. Premier Doer suggested that lengthy response times (20 - 25 minutes) in the southern portion of the Interlake Region at least in part prompted this decision. It's a dangerous statement to make in light of the fact that Manitoba has yet to develop any response standards against which to measure our performance. While this announcement certainly acknowledges the need for system improvements, it does so by once again reacting to a very specific problem without addressing current system inconsistencies and inefficiencies that exist province-wide. And I dare say that staffing of this facility will be another interesting problem. Without exception all regions are teetering on the brink of experiencing paramedic shortages, compounded by the fact that the province is dragging it's heals on the funding approval needed for Red River College to have any chance of being ready to deliver PCP education this fall.

There's no doubt that the NDP government has made significant investments in our EMS system since first elected in 1999. Introduction of a Fleet vehicle program, a much improved communications system, development of the MTCC, substantial increases in regional funding to offset staffing costs, elimination of the interfacility-transfer cost to patients and announcements such as this new facility in the Interlake are all welcome indeed. But what has yet to be adopted by this government is a concrete plan that will improve Manitoba's emergency medical services system as a whole and ensure it's sustainability going into the future. Without that I fear we may simply be throwing more good money after bad.