SD&G – Paramedics hope to shave minutes off their time when responding to emergency calls from Long Sault and Lancaster as two units roll into service.
South Stormont officials got a look at one of the new paramedic response units (PRU’s) yesterday that were delivered a week-and-a-half ago.
The PRU is a sport utility vehicle, designed to get to the scene quickly, and has all for gear like an ambulance but it can’t transport patients.
“We’ve received the vehicles…the vehicles are here, staff are in place, we hope to have them on the road very soon,” EMS Chief Myles Cassidy said in an earlier interview with CNW.
SD&G Warden Eric Duncan tweeted Tuesday that the service will be rolling Sunday morning.
“The additional PRUs based in Long Sault and Lancaster are a big step to help with the increased demand and will make a difference. It’s amazing how far technology, training, and medicine has come along in EMS in recent years. After years of discussion for more service, it’s nice to see them on the road,” said Duncan.
In Lancaster, one South Glengarry councillor believes the new post can only add to a great service. “We are already well served by EMS,” Coun. Lyle Warden told Cornwall Newswatch.
While the paramedics will be working out of the Cornwall EMS base on Campbell Street, they will be posted in Long Sault and Lancaster.
The Lancaster PRU will be stationed at the EMS base, which is attached to the South Glengarry Station #4 fire hall.
South Stormont signed a contract June 15 to buy the half acre piece of land for $90,500 for the future Long Sault EMS base on Moulinette Road.
The money to pay for the land will be negotiated through a lease agreement with Cornwall SD&G EMS.
The township will now put together a request for proposals to find someone to design and build the building.
“All of our stations external to the city are leased by the city from various landlords,” Chief Cassidy explained in an interview with CNW.
In the meantime, Cassidy said the paramedics will do a so-called “mobile deployment” where the paramedic response unit (PRU) sits on a street corner, similar to what is done in Cornwall.
In 2014, a deployment review recommended two additional units for coverage in South Glengarry and South Stormont to cut down on response times.
The city and the counties will share the cost on the two units this year (60-40 counties-city) but the entire cost will be eligible for a 50-50 share with the Ontario Ministry of Health in 2016.
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