Wellington County council has adopted in principle a report on optimal resource deployment of paramedic services.
However, council stopped short of including the report’s recommendations in the county’s 10-year plan and 2019 budget.
Developed by United Kingdom-based management consulting firm ORH, the report recommends relocation of four ambulance stations and enhancing vehicle deployments in the county by 588 ambulance hours per week.
The goal is to provide a county-focused evaluation of paramedic station locations and deployments based on anticipated 2026 demand levels.
“Back in 2016, we were asked to put together a report that looked at what would be the optimal deployment of resources for 10 years,” explained ORH consultant Hannah Mayes at the May 25 county council meeting.
Based on potential response times as well as functionality and potential for expansion at existing locations, the report recommends relocating ambulance stations in Hillsburgh, Harriston, Mount Forest and Rockwood.
Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service Chief Stephen Dewar noted the relocations would enhance overall ambulance service.
“By relocating some stations it would improve our performance overall, not just on calls originating from that station, but overall looking at all of the calls that we do, we would be able to increase or improve our overall performance,” he stated.
The report identifies “optimal” station locations in various municipalities and provides a range of location options surrounding the optimal location rated from very good to very poor.
The report recognizes property and other practical constraints “may mean that it is not possible to relocate a station to the exact optimal site.”
A phasing plan would see the existing Hillsburgh station closed and moved and an additional ambulance night shift added at the Hillsburgh and Rockwood locations between 2017 and 2020.
The report indicates the average response time in Erin would be improved by one minute and notes the current Hillsburgh station has no room for expansion.
Between 2020 and 2023, the Rockwood station would be closed and moved to an optimal site, another 24/7 ambulance would be added at Fergus and an additional ambulance night shift would be added at Drayton.
In Rockwood, where the report indicates “the amenities and functionality of the current station are poor,” response times would be improved by 15 seconds by a move to the optimal location.
Between 2023 and 2026, the Mount Forest and Harriston stations would be closed and moved to an optimal location and additional ambulance day shifts added in both communities.
In Harriston, the move would result in a response time improvement of 41 seconds in Minto, where the existing station has no room for expansion. The move of the Mount Forest station, also considered non-expandable, would improve response times in Wellington North by one minute and 20 seconds.
The report notes that in addition to relocating stations to improve response performance, the goals of Guelph Wellington Paramedic Service (GWPS) include creating sites that are:
– efficient and effective (access/egress, layout, space);
– purpose-built; and
– better at meeting the needs of staff.
The report also indicates the Arthur and Drayton stations are leased locations, with access/egress issues and lacking amenities, “therefore location optimization was revisited.” Two optimal sites in Arthur and Drayton were identified very close to existing stations.
“Given the issues described above it is suggested that relocating these stations should be considered,” the report states.
In preparing the report, the consultants also tested various alternative locations for stations around the county, some of which were not included in the recommendations.
For example, a model amalgamating Mount Forest and Arthur resources at Kenilworth resulted in “significant detrimental impact on average response times in Wellington North (increase of six minutes and 15 seconds) and a small negative impact in Mapleton (increase of 18 seconds)
Another model for relocating the Drayton station to Teviotdale would have resulted in a significant detrimental impact in Mapleton (three minutes, 45 seconds), but improvement in Minto of one minute and 11 seconds.
A model moving a half-time ambulance from Guelph to Aberfoyle resulted in a small net improvement in average response times overall, but significant improvement in Puslinch (two minutes, nine seconds). Adding a 12/7 ambulance at Aberfoyle (without moving one from Guelph) provided similar results.
However neither scenario was recommended due to low call volume in Puslinch. The report notes a Puslinch-based vehicle would end up spending 60 per cent of its time in Guelph.
After the presentation, Mayes and Dewar took questions from council.
Later in the meeting, social services committee chair David Anderson presented a report from the May 22 committee meeting, which contained a recommendation that the report and the recommendations contained therein be approved, subject to identified feasible enhancements for Puslinch and Mapleton, and included in the county’s 2019 budget and 10-year plan.
Several councillors expressed concern about recommendations in the report and indicated they felt budget inclusion was premature.
Minto Mayor George Bridge disagreed with the assessment that there was no room to expand the Harriston station and noted the recommended location was in a flood-prone area of the town.
Mapleton Mayor Neil Driscoll stated the Drayton station “was built by Mapleton Township in conjunction with you folks under your guidance. We built that building for you people and I’d be really disappointed to see you leave it, especially when there’s a lease involved, because we have no other use for that building.
“And as far as relocating, my concern is just because Mapleton has such low call volumes that we’re not being considered for more ambulance service, because I think it should be based on the severity of the call, because a lot of our accidents are very severe and that’s when you need your ambulance service.”
Driscoll added Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson “has a big concern” that firefighters are “responding to a lot of calls and doing the paramedic work.”
Referencing the proposed Rockwood station move, councillor Doug Breen said, “I was a bit surprised first of all that you would spend the amount of money involved to move to a site that already has something on it, that’s 15 seconds away.”
He added, “I was a little puzzled to hear you say the amenities were poor in Rockwood. I’d be really curious to know what you mean by that.
“Absolutely the idea of going to 24-hour service there, that makes a ton of sense,” Breen continued. “That’s a growing population. It’s getting bigger all the time and clearly it would make a huge difference in response times to have someone physically there; but to move 15 seconds down the road seems a like a god-awful waste of money to me.”
Dewar explained the Rockwood station is approximately nine by 11 feet and contains a fridge, microwave and chairs for two or three people. To use kitchen facilities paramedics need to go up a set of stairs and through a community room, which is sometimes rented to the public.
If required to go around the building to access the kitchen from the outside, they can be a “considerable distance” from the ambulance. If a call comes in “that can increase response time by minutes,” Dewar stated.
In addition, he pointed out that a move to 24-hour ambulance service requires locker and shower facilities be available.
“It was designed as a fire station. It wasn’t designed as an ambulance station,” said Dewar.
Councillor Andy Lennox pointed out the plan looks at a 10-year time frame and wondered, “What’s this look like 20, 30, 40 years out?”
“There wouldn’t be a significant change and we certainly wouldn’t be expected to tweak within, in this case 15 seconds, when we have a purpose-built facility,” replied Dewar.
“We understand that’s the best we’re going to do within the life of the building.”
Breen stated, “I certainly don’t want to come across as anti-ambulance, that would just be stupid … But at the same time, if I were to support this report as it sits right now my father would rise up from the grave and beat me to death. There is a lot of problems here.”
Breen continued, “If you hand me a report that says it is even remotely reasonable to move a few hundred yards down the road, buy land, build a new building for 15 seconds it really casts a doubt on the entire report.”
Breen suggested it was “way premature” to include the proposals in budgets and financial plans.
“What budget numbers are we using? We don’t know how much land is going to cost, other than too much. We don’t have a number here for building,” he stated.
“Until we have 24-hour service in every one of these centres, I don’t want to see another brick … I’d rather see more ambulances, more people, more human beings, more boots on the ground.
“This report as it stands to me is completely unacceptable and I’m quite frankly embarrassed that it made it this far.”
Dewar told council that in some cases station relocation can be more cost effective in improving response times than adding personnel and vehicles.
“As the chief I’d be happy to put three ambulances in every location and make sure we have it all covered,” he said. Dewar explained that adding a 24/7 ambulance “is $1.25 million of operating a year,” while relocating a station is a “one-time capital cost” budgeted at $1.5 million.
“If we can move the station, it’s frankly a bigger bang for the buck,” said Dewar, who said the consultant’s report represents “probably the best combination of increased staffing and moving the locations.”
Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White agreed with Breen the motion was “premature” and said not enough options had been presented to consider committing dollars.
“I’d be willing to work with them to improve the facilities,” stated White, who requested wording be changed to indicate any relocations “will be approved contingent upon making sure that’s the right move or the feasible move.”
Councillor Don McKay said accepting the report wouldn’t mean implementing every recommendation.
“It’s a modeling forecast and I see it from a different point of view than councillor Breen,” said McKay.
“That 15 seconds says to me, yes, why would we move the location? So that report there is for us to digest and for us to rationalize what we would actually do.
“Just because the report says we should move that station for a 15 second improvement doesn’t mean we would move that station for that particular reason. All it means is the company took their models and said this is the most optimal thing … So we use it as a tool.”
Councillor Gregg Davidson, a member of the social services committee, said committee members were focused on improving response times when making their recommendation.
“We all realized the most important thing is to bring down the time for the ambulance …” said Davidson.
“Boots on the ground is one of the most important things that we could do, absolutely … sometimes though, we might have to move a building, or move the location. For Erin, for instance, it makes sense to move the location because you look at the time change in Erin … its just under five minutes … that is huge, it’s absolutely amazing to have that kind of time change and being from emergency services (Davidson is a former police officer) … even a 15 second (difference) is lifesaving. Yes you can say its ridiculous, but that 15 seconds could mean the difference between someone living and someone dying.”
Councillor Lynda White called the report a good starting point.
“It’s a start of where we need to go,” she said. “Chief Dewar was asked to get this report ready; this hasn’t even been seen by the City of Guelph and we’re partners … So this is about the county and if you take a look, it says ambulance station feasibility study, it doesn’t say ambulance the whole kit and caboodle study.
“It’s about the stations and it’s a report that says this is what this particular company thinks would make things better for Wellington County which is what we all want.”
CAO Scott Wilson reminded councillors the ambulance service is run by Guelph and the county purchases the service from the city.
“It can’t be forgotten that the city is completely in charge of the number of paramedics. We have no control of that,” said Wilson.
“So we have to show them that we have a plan for how we want the county serviced, what the service will be and the response times. And we will have to negotiate … with the city – ‘here’s where we want to have our locations because we think it’s going to reduce response time to a certain level. Now we need you to make a commitment to fund it.’ So we do need this plan,” Wilson stated, adding he is “comfortable” with budget numbers the county’s finance department has come up with. “If this motion passes we’re not going to start buying property tomorrow anywhere. The city is not going to start adding staff for any location. But at least we’ve got something to talk about,” said Wilson.
While conceding the Rockwood move “may be a bit iffy,” Wilson noted, “There’s lots of background that the committee, I’m sure, hasn’t heard, with regard to staff relations that the county is not directly involved in. This is a service that the city provides us.
“So I’m sure if you dig deeper into it with your fire chiefs, who seem to be big players in this area, there seems to be a need for paramedics to have their own location.”
At Wilson’s suggestion, council approved a resolution approving the report in principle, “subject to further information on individual locations.”
