After latest delay, Saint-Quentin mayor steps up call for better ambulance service

A community in northwestern New Brunswick is again calling for adequate ambulance service after a cyclist who was struck and injured by a vehicle last week waited more than 40 minutes before being taken to a hospital three blocks away by a passerby. 

"The first thing that came to mind was, 'Oh my god, not again,' because it's something that happens quite often," Nicole Somers, the mayor of Saint-Quentin, about 100 kilometres east of Edmundston, said Thursday.

"We've had accidents before where we're calling 911 … and most of the time we're not sure that we're going to get an answer."

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After the cyclist was struck, a doctor happened to be driving by and recommended to police that the victim be placed on a stretcher-like board and taken to the local hospital in a vehicle belonging to someone who had stopped at the scene. The cyclist survived. 

The mayor says this isn't the first time there's been a delay in Ambulance New Brunswick service. In fact, she said, it's been happening for as long as she can remember. 

"The way Ambulance New Brunswick works, if Edmundston loses an ambulance to a transfer then everybody else is covering for Edmundston," Somers said.

"Saint-Léonard will go to Edmundston, Grand Falls will cover Saint-Léonard and we'll cover Grand Falls. We're losing the ambulance on our territory."

911 not reliable

In the last three years, two deaths occurred after delays in Ambulance New Brunswick, Somers said.

In 2017, a 14-year-old girl injured in a motor-vehicle crash died waiting for an ambulance.

In August 2016, there was no ambulance on hand to take a woman to hospital after she had a stroke. The woman died 11 days later, and her husband, former ambulance worker Jean-Yves Gauvreau, has said that might not have happened if she'd been given medication sooner.

It's the cold fact that we're calling 911 and there's no answer. What are we going to do about it?- Nicole Somers, mayor of Saint Quentin

"We really want Ambulance New Brunswick to address the situation, this is unacceptable … it's about time somebody wakes up," she said.

Somers said the community has tried to get government and Ambulance New Brunswick to address the problem, but said she's heard nothing but excuses, such as the service doesn't have enough staff or there aren't enough bilingual paramedics.

She's hoping for at least two ambulances to run 24 hours a day in the area.

A failure in management

"We don't want any excuses anymore," Somers said. "We need action, we need solutions."

Ambulance service, especially in rural areas of New Brunswick, became an issue during the election last month that produced no clear-cut winner.

Green Party Leader David Coon is calling for a public inquiry into the problems at Ambulance New Brunswick. The legislature needs to be provided with recommendations on how to fix those problems, Coon said.

"We need to stop tying up paramedics in transporting patients from one corner of the province to the other," he said. "They're first responders and you don't want to take first responders out of your community." 

The ambulance service is run by Medavie Health Services New Brunswick Inc., whose contract was renewed by the Liberal government last year for another 10 years.  

Class action being considered

Community members in Restigouche County held a meeting on Wednesday evening, where they tossed around ideas to improve the emergency response in the area.

Now a class action is being considered against Medavie and the provincial government.

"I think it's also a way to have all the parties at the table and then have a person who is neutral in the middle, to tell everyone that we are not totally [out of left field] saying that we do not have the services we should have in our community," she said

Joanne Fortin, chair of the Saint-Quentin standing committee on health, also believes a class action should seriously be considered.

"It's not just for Ambulance New Brunswick," she told Radio-Canada in French. "This is for all health services in the area." 

Meeting with Medavie

Fortin has scheduled a meeting with Medavie president Richard Losier for next Wednesday in hopes of coming up with solutions.

CBC News asked for an interview with Ambulance New Brunswick and Medavie and did not get a response. 

Another idea tossed around by residents at the meeting Wednesday was the creation of a citizens action committee, which would have people responding to emergencies if paramedics in the area can't. 

Somers said she doesn't agree with the plan because it comes with a lot of responsibility.

"It's the cold fact that we're calling 911 and there's no answer, what are we going to do about it?"she said.