Lambton County ambulance plan calls for new stations, more crews

Building an emergency medical services headquarters in Sarnia, including a replacement for the Brights Grove ambulance station, is proposed in a new master plan calling for other service changes in Lambton County.

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They include a new Camlachie ambulance station, moving Grand Bend’s station closer to Pinery Provincial Park, and adding three new 12-hour paramedic shifts over the next three years. Ambulance shifts in Thedford also would move to other locations, according to the plan endorsed in principle Nov. 15 by a Lambton County council committee.

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The master plan will be considered by full council Nov. 29.

As well as adjusting how current ambulance services are delivered locally, the plan’s recommendations aim to meet growing demand over the next five years,

“We’ve got a bit of a disconnect between the population growth rate and the call volume growth rate,” said Stephen Turner, the county’s emergency medical services (EMS) manager.

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Lambton’s population is growing by about one quarter of one per hundred a year, but ambulance call volume is growing by about six per cent, mainly due to the community’s aging population, Turner said.

“We need to make sure that: one, our resources are in the right place; two, we’re using our resources appropriately; and, three, that we have the appropriate amount of resources to meet that need,” he said.

Lambton has 10 ambulances operating 24 hours a day, one ambulance running 12 hours a day, and a total EMS workforce of about 150.

Building the new stations and buying more ambulances is expected to cost between $16.4 million and $20.4 million, according to the plan. Operating costs are expected to increase by $1.54 million a year once all the added crews are in place.

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The county and province each pay half the cost of the ambulance service. Selling the current ambulance station buildings in Brights Grove and Grand Bend is expected to bring in some money, the plan says.

Moving the Brights Grove station, next door to a city fire hall near Telfer and Blackwell roads, to a new site near highways 402 and 40 would make it easier to cover areas of the city experiencing longer response times.

“Right now, we don’t have a station that’s right on Highway 402,” Turner added.

Combining a new station there with a headquarters would “bring administration, logistics, training and operations into one place,” he said.

County ambulance administrators now work in offices at Lambton Meadowview Village, a long-term care home, near Petrolia. The department rents space to store ambulance supplies and has no dedicated space for paramedic training.

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If the plan is approved, Turner said they could start work on the new headquarters and ambulance station next year so it could open in early 2025.

Construction of a Camlachie station could begin in 2025, with work starting on a new Pinery station the following year, according to the plan.

Building a new station near Camlachie would place it where a great deal of population growth is happening, Turner said.

“Camlachie allows us access to the 402 – it allows us access to the lakeshore” and better backup ambulance service in both Forest and Sarnia, he added.

“It’s a better location to be able to provide more uniform coverage throughout the county,” Turner said.

The location of the Grand Bend station in the county’s northeast, bordering Middlesex County, means it’s not often called on to help cover other parts of Lambton. Moving it closer to Pinery Park would allow quicker response times there, and in other nearby areas, according to the plan.

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“People in Lambton County should be assured that we have a strong and very competent, highly-trained group of paramedics that stand ready to meet the growing needs of the population,” Turner said.

The report also calls for Lambton to work with the province and local partners to “better integrate ourselves with the health-care system,” and move away from the traditional model of transporting every patient to hospital emergency departments, he said.

“Paramedics can play a key role in helping to provide assessment and care to 911 callers and match patients with services they require, such as primary care, community home care and social supports,” the plan says.

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