News Release April 10th, 2012

News Release

 

April 10th, 2012                        Mayor Garth Harris

 

Ambulance and other emergency services that cover Preeceville and Area.

 

How do we manage risk? When do we think about risk? Or plan for risk? Our Emergency Services do each and every day.  Most of us spend time in the same place each day, 75% at home or in our community, 25% at work. Preventable accidents account for 400 indents each day in Saskatchewan. Where do you live, what is the quality of your water and food? What life style do you live?  Many in this area work away, and then begin that second shift on the farm or other job. Stats tell us we are 5 times more likely to have preventable accidents at home or after work. We need ambulance services. This area has an older population, which needs more transfers then the average. We are 3 to 4 hours away from Regina or Saskatoon. So working on the average transfers and accidents for the area, we have no ambulance each day for 8 hours. The risk is higher for folks living outside the town. Ask anyone who has needed our local service what they think. Very good.   

We are a community that comes together to plan, serve and protect each other. This system is not perfect, it is not funded to the right level and we can always do more with less. One area that we need to take more responsibility for is our governments, at all levels. Working together improving and simplify bureaucracy. In this case universal access to quality healthcare through our ambulance and ambulance personal.  The Town of Preeceville and other local governments understand the dissatisfaction of the public while we manage this important issue. As a community looking at and after ourselves, it seems like downloading again, if we want it, we must pay for it locally.  Case in point: our fire department. In 2005 we had a defensive fire department, over the past 6 years and through investment of money and training we have a offensive department that can entre burning buildings. Doing the same with our health system that meets the needs of each community and our aging is very important.  To conclude, as we move to more home health care with less in hospital stays because of finance resources it is key to have our current ambulance and personal levels maintained.   

On Tuesday, March 20^th, 2012 the owner of the Preeceville Ambulance Care informed me that he had reduced staff and we would be down to one ambulance as of May 1^st 2012. We have been working hard to find the reasons why. To date questions from the public have been great. Be assured that the Town of Preeceville is doing everything in our power to ensure the safety of the public and proper emergency coverage is provided for the public. I am available to meet with anyone wishing to discuss the issue. Please put any questions in writing.

 

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