Town told it won't happen again; response times still an issue

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SUSSEX - Ambulance New Brunswick is apologetic after the Sussex Fire Department was recently asked to respond to medical emergencies.

Sussex Mayor Ralph Carr

Preston Holmes, Ambulance NB regional manager south, said the other ambulances in town were otherwise occupied when the calls came in.

The closest crew was just passing by Sussex and was not familiar with the Dairytown.

"It's a very typical practice in New Brunswick," said Holmes, "for paramedics who are in an unfamiliar area or if they are going to an area where they think their response will be 10 or 15 minutes, or if there are expectations that there is an emergency condition existing and they think fire can get there quicker, they call for what's called medical assistance."

Holmes said Ambulance NB and the paramedics who asked for medical assistance were unaware that the fire department in Sussex does not take medical assistance calls. The fire department did, however, respond on these two occasions.

The province began operating under one standardized ambulance system Dec. 16. It is managed by Medavie Blue Cross which has been operating an almost identical system in Nova Scotia for years.

Ambulance NB has recently come under fire for their response time to a call within town limits that took almost 21 minutes. The family involved, however, believe it took paramedics, who came from Petitcodiac, almost 40 minutes.

Ambulance NB considers Sussex a rural area because it has a population under 5,000 people. Response times for rural areas are 22 minutes or less 90 per cent of the time. Urban areas have response times of nine minutes or less 90 per cent of the time.

"That's an issue we're going to take them to task about," said Sussex Mayor Ralph Carr.

According to Statistics Canada's 2006 census, the total population of Sussex and Sussex Corner, which share a Main Street, is over 5,600.

Sussex fire chief Bill Wanamaker said even though the recent callouts put them in an awkward position, they felt it was their duty to help. Volunteer firefighters in Sussex have advanced first aid training, but it is significantly less than the level of expertise EMTs have. There are also liability issues for the department and the town in those instances.

Following the two medical callouts, Carr said the town informed Ambulance NB that they should no longer call on the fire department.

"They said they wouldn't do it anymore," he said.

In some areas of the province, medical assistance calls like those made to the Sussex Fire Department are common. Holmes said the paramedics who placed the calls usually work in one of those kinds of areas and didn't think anything of it at the time.

"We think we've addressed it so it shouldn't happen again," said Holmes. "We haven't made a rule that (paramedics) can't call fire but we have made a rule that they're not to call Sussex fire."