A plan for a blended service between firefighters and paramedics in Chatham-Kent won’t be moving forward.
The crowd in the council chambers, which was filled with local paramedics, erupted in applause at Monday night’s council meeting after Model ‘C’ was rejected by council.
“We’re relieved, and happy to move on and serve the community to the best of our abilities,” Mike Stinson, a Chatham-Kent paramedic and Service Employees International Union steward, told the Sydenham Current.
Ken Stuebing, C-K’s fire paramedic chief, was asking for council’s approval to negotiate the blended fire-paramedic service. Stuebing also recommended to approve an agreement with Medavie EMS for a two year term.
This was also voted down by council, and instead a five-year contract was approved.
Stinson said he wanted to thank the community of Chatham-Kent for all of the support they received.
“We’re blown away,” Stinson said.
“As much as land ambulance is a municipal service, this has become a provincial issue… with C-K in the spotlight. We had paramedics from all over Ontario come down to support quality patient care within the community. We have always believed that ambulance ought to be a standalone service from Fire Services so we can both focus on our respective jobs.”
Similar to the showing before the June 14 council meeting, local paramedics gathered outside the Civic Centre in Chatham on Monday to rally and show their solidarity towards the issue.
The familiar chant of ‘hey hey, hey ho, Model C has got to go’ rang through the street as paramedics from Chatham-Kent, were joined by others in various other communities from across Ontario.
Negotiations for the five-year contract with Medavie EMS will begin in the near future.
The previously recommended price tag for the contract in 2017 was $10,463,416 and $10,678,325 for 2018. The contract is expected to rise to $11,391,835 by 2021.
Chatham-Kent staff say a blended service model would of saved Chatham-Kent $1.3 million in the budget.
– Photo credit: Tami Schram
Good thing council saw though the smoke and mirrors of model C