Image: Huron County ambulance.
Huron County Council received a refreshed look at the county’s Emergency Services Master Plan.
The original master plan from Operational Research in Health Limited (ORH) was delivered to council in February 2020, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, did not move forward.
The updated version, which council heard on Wednesday, was offered in order to inform council of the county’s needs, which may have changed since the last report, instead of moving forward with the assessment from 2019.
Over the last several years ORH have undertaken numerous ambulance studies in Canada, particularly in Ontario, the majority of which have involved creating multi-year strategic master plans or updating existing plans.
The new plan suggests the benefit and viability of moving services to Seaforth, in order to keep response times lower in the area.
The report suggests moving operations from Tuckersmith in order to improve Seaforth response times, since Tuckersmith is closer to other bases.
Such a move would actually improve performance by 9.8 percent for Seaforth residents, as well as streamline operations and create a 0.9 percent improvement across the county.
The report also had suggestions such as adding a night shift to the Bayfield operations by 2027.
Between 2028 and 2030, a day shift would be added in Clinton, while a night shift would be added to Wingham.
For more long term goals, it’s also recommended adding a day and night shift in Exeter, as well as monitoring whether the Goderich station should eventually be moved south.