ambulance

March 7, 2024admin

N.S. government has twice warned ambulance provider about poor service, says health minister

The Nova Scotia government has issued two warnings in recent months to Emergency Medical Care, the company that has provided ambulance service to the province for almost 25 years, that it’s dissatisfied with the level of service it is providing.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson told reporters about the formal warnings on Friday following question period at Province House, where she was asked about a two-hour wait for ambulances after a serious accident on a highway near Annapolis Royal. A driver and three children were seriously hurt in that crash, on Feb. 15.

“There have been two letters of warning issued to [Emergency Medical Care] in the last number of months,” Thompson said.

She described the relationship between her department and EMC as a partnership, but maintained her department would not shy away from its responsibility as a “regulator,” including fining the company, if need be. It’s a threat that’s been levied before but, to date, the department has not fined EMC. In fact, the company has never been fined for failing to meet its contractual obligations.

Still need to hire more staff

Jeff Fraser, the person in charge of Emergency Health Services at the Department of Health, later told reporters the warnings came last August and October. He said the first one was resolved but the most recent one, related to an inadequate supply of available ambulances, remained a work in progress.

Fraser said the problem is a lack of staff, a problem not unique to Nova Scotia.

“The government has helped out here by providing a fair package for paramedics, that EMC and the union negotiated, and we really need to dig in and lean in on what’s happening around recruitment and retention,” said Fraser. “That is clearly EMC’s responsibility to staff the system.”

A woman with dark hair and glasses, wearing a blazer. — Health Minister Michelle Thompson told

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Department Health

February 7, 2024admin

Grand Manan to get air ambulance in the fall, after year of close calls

After over a year without air ambulance services, Grand Manan will have an aircraft stationed on the island beginning in the fall, according to a Department of Health news release Thursday.

It will be the first permanent aircraft to be stationed on the island since medevac services were lost in 2022 after changes to Transport Canada regulations led to the loss of a contract with Ambulance New Brunswick.

Municipality mayor Bonnie Morse welcomes the development.

“This has been something that we have been in discussions with the Department of Health and Ambulance New Brunswick … for well over a year now. So it’s something we’ve been advocating for a long time,” Morse said.

WATCH | Mayor of Grand Manan: ‘It’s a sense of relief’

Grand Manan will have air ambulance stationed on the island by September

After consultations between the village and the Department of Health, a King Air 200 aircraft will be based on the island to provide ambulance service.

According to the release, Ambulance New Brunswick signed a contract with Voyageur Aviation to bring the aircraft to the island.

Ambulance N.B. currently operates a primary aircraft and a mechanical backup, both of which are King Air 200 models. The new Grand Manan aircraft will also be a King Air 200.

Until the new aircraft is stationed on Grand Manan, Ambulance N.B. “will continue to collaborate with Voyageur Aviation to maximize usage of the backup aircraft to support services on Grand Manan. This temporary measure is expected to be partially operational starting in March,” said the release.

Bonnie Morse, mayor of Grand Manan — Grand Manan Mayor Bonnie Morse says the announcement of a permanent air ambulance is very good news after over a year of anxiety for the municipality. (CBC New Brunswick)

Morse said the absence of a permanent air ambulance caused anxiety in the

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Department Health

September 8, 2023admin

Dispatching solution expected in coming months after meeting between mayors, Ambulance NB, Department of Health

It’s been eight months since Ambulance NB stopped dispatching emergency medical calls to the Memramcook and Dorchester fire departments, as well as another ten departments across the province. Last week, officials from the New Brunswick Department of Health and Ambulance New Brunswick met with local mayors and representatives from the province’s municipal associations to discuss the issue, and the delay in solving it.

“The folks on the call were fairly optimistic that they were going to find a solution,” says Bourgeois, and one that could be in place by October, and apply across the province. “They want all the fire departments to have that opportunity to be able to be called and dispatched,” says Bourgeois.

“In our communities, as you know, if something does happen, it can take up to 45 minutes before a paramedic arrives on the scene,” says Bourgeois. Local fire departments, on the other hand, are typically under 10 minutes away. “So it’s the fire department calls that can definitely make the difference between life and death in certain situations,” says Bourgeois.

The decision to end medical first responder dispatching appears to be a resource issue. In March, Ambulance NB spokesperson Christianna Williston told CHMA that the “improvised solution” by which a dozen departments received calls was determined to be “no longer sustainable.” Williston pointed out that different departments had different capabilities for calls, and also that it is still ANB policy to call on fire departments in a small number of cases, such as when there is a delayed response expected, when there is a high acuity or ECHO level call, and when ANB staff will need help with lift assists.

Bourgeois says he doesn’t quite understand why the current practice would take less dispatcher time than the previous scenario. “If you have somebody that does

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Department Health

August 20, 2023admin

Suzanne Somers, 76, calls 911 during health scare but later finds out she is fine… after an ambulance and the fire department arrived to her home

By Ashleigh Gray For Dailymail.Com

Published: 20:10 EDT, 16 August 2023 | Updated: 20:44 EDT, 16 August 2023

Suzanne Somers had a brief health scare over the weekend.

The 76-year-old blonde bombshell – who earlier this year revealed she turned down a hosting gig on The View – called the ambulance to her Palm Springs residence over blood pressure concerns.

According to Page Six, healthcare professionals arrived only to tell her that everything was fine.

She told the publication that she and Alan Hamel, her husband of 46 years, routinely take each other’s blood pressure daily.

‘Alan got a reading on me he didn’t like, but he took it again 8 or 10 more times to be sure. For the first time ever, we 911,’ she dished.

Worrisome: Suzanne Somers had a brief health scare over the weekend as she called the ambulance to her Palm Springs residence over blood pressure concerns

Partners: She told the publication that she and Alan Hamel, her husband of 46 years, routinely take each other’s blood pressure daily

‘Within a few minutes two teams arrived, one from the fire department and one with the ambulance,’ she explained. ‘They hooked me up with their gear… and said I’m fine.’

‘So what was it? Our blood pressure monitor was faulty,’ she revealed.

Somers expressed gratitude for the healthcare professionals who assisted her.

‘A big kiss and big hugs to our incredible fire department,’ she noted, playfully adding, ‘Plus, they were all movie star handsome.’

Two years ago, Suzanne joked while appearing on Heather Dubrow’s World podcast that she and her hubby have a vibrant sex life.

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Department Health

April 2, 2023admin

Fired ambulance company sues N.L. Well being Section, regional health authority

A paramedic looks contemplative, sitting with a strecher and medical supplies in the background. — Wade Smith, viewed in this article in a file picture, owns Smith’s Ambulance Support, a private ambulance operator. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

An ambulance services that experienced its deal for products and services in the Whitbourne space terminated abruptly previously this month has submitted a lawsuit in opposition to the provincial Section of Wellness and the area’s regional health and fitness authority.

In a assertion of declare filed past 7 days in the Supreme Courtroom of Newfoundland and Labrador, Smith’s Ambulance Service says it was terminated devoid of see on March 2 and dispute resolution methods outlined in the ambulance service arrangement ended up not followed.

The firm has been supplying ambulance service to the Whitbourne location considering that 1996 and signed its most modern agreement with the provincial government and Japanese Health in January.

Some Smith’s Ambulance employees told CBC News they located out their employer’s agreement was severed, leaving them with no careers, by way of an Japanese Health push launch posted to Fb on the evening of March 2.

In paperwork submitted in court docket, Smith’s stated Jap Well being despatched the corporation a letter in mid-June that alleged the enterprise experienced breached its ambulance service settlement on June 1.

Smith’s said the letter didn’t comply with their deal or let them to overview the circumstance and answer before motion was taken. The corporation also alleges Japanese Wellbeing did not notify it of the potential breach of agreement within three days of turning out to be conscious of it, as its contract demands.

A female paramedic sits inside an ambulance with an automated external defibrillator layed on top of a stretcher. She is pressing a button on the defibrillators. — A principal-treatment paramedic with Smith’s Ambulance Support checks ambulance products right before her change starts in this picture from November. (Heather Gillis/CBC)

The assertion of claim also said the corporation worked with Eastern Health to resolve troubles but was nonetheless anxious about the breach of agreement

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Health Care

March 25, 2023admin

N.L. to consolidate ambulance expert services as minister offers of most important health-treatment commit to date

A bald, mustachioed man speaks into a microphone. — Newfoundland and Labrador Well being Minister Tom Osborne says a provincially operate ambulance application with central dispatch will enhance solutions. (Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada)

Newfoundland and Labrador’s overall health minister is touting the highest once-a-year health-care spending in the province’s history, an estimated $3.9 billion — for a population of just around 50 percent a million men and women. A portion of that value will be invested on reimagining ambulance expert services.

A lot of what was contained in the wellbeing finances was by now produced public in a suite of pre-finances announcements. Amongst them: a new urgent-care centre, retention and remoteness bonuses and 10 new family members-care groups.

On the heels of a paramedics’ strike and the loss of just one non-public operator, the province has earmarked $9 million to consolidate 60 different road ambulance providers into a single technique with centralized dispatch. Aspect of that cash will go toward hiring a marketing consultant.

“We have viewed more than the past quantity of months difficulties raised with ambulance providers,” said Health and fitness Minister Tom Osborne.

“I believe obtaining a provincially run, integrated, with a central command for that system, will make sure a a lot more seamless process as opposed to a fragmented technique.”

Purpose of non-public operators is not known

What part personal operators will carry on to engage in is unidentified, Osborne explained, but he advised extra distant areas of the province could retain their personal- or group-based mostly ambulance operator.

“We price our non-public operators,” Osborne mentioned.

“I you should not want to set the cart right before the horse for what it will search like for operators.”

There will be some community operators and some distant operations may continue to operate less than a unique program.

“We will also see the integration of workforce in addition

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Tag: ambulance

Still need to hire more staff

Grand Manan will have air ambulance stationed on the island by September

Suzanne Somers, 76, calls 911 during health scare but later finds out she is fine… after an ambulance and the fire department arrived to her home

Purpose of non-public operators is not known