'Christmas in November': Saint-Quentin gets increased ambulance service after long battle

Residents of Saint-Quentin are breathing a sigh of relief after Medavie's president told the community Thursday night it would be getting a second full-time ambulance to respond to emergencies.

It's something people in the rural New Brunswick community had been fighting for, for two years, after multiple incidents where ambulances took more than 40 minutes to respond.

In a few cases, residents even questioned whether a quicker response would have made the difference between life-and-death. 

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Richard Losier, the president of Medavie president and chief executive officer of Ambulance New Brunswick, was in Saint-Quentin for a meeting with the mayor, and other community members, who had been advocating for better services.

Saint-Quentin Mayor Nicole Somers came out of the hour and a half long meeting happy.

"It's Christmas in November," said Somers.

Several Saint-Quentin residents, despite not being invited to the closed-door meeting, came to city hall to find out the news first hand.

The issue has been top of mind for the small community an hour east of Edmundston.

"It's about time somebody listened to us," said Ben Cyr. 

"It's a surprise honestly. We're really happy."

The news came after things seemed to have reached a breaking point two weeks ago when residents said a class-action lawsuit against Medavie, which manages Ambulance New Brunswick, and the province, might be the only way forward.

After a meeting, residents agreed to give Medavie until Nov. 1 to come up with solutions.

For Somers, getting a second full-time ambulance was make or break. 

"They finally realized that we needed that," she said.

The area — from Saint-Quentin to Menneval, about a 45-kilometre stretch — is served by a single full-time ambulance. The second ambulance is on call between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Losier said he recognized the region had a problem.

"They're an hour away, each side, from a regional hospital. They have a small — very small hospital. They don't have four-lane highways, [they have a] ​tremendous amount of traffic because of the forestry industry, injuries … lot of transfers also from the hospital."

"We were quite desperate," said Somers.

"It came to a point … emergencies came up and we had no response. People were afraid."

8 positions to fill

The extra hours of service mean Medavie will have to fill eight paramedic positions in the area — six full-time and two-part time, said Losier.

Medavie promised the changes would be in place by Dec. 27.

It's a small time-frame, but Losier said there will be no incentives to bring paramedics to the area.

"Will that change in the future? I don't know. Time will tell."

"I'm confident people want to work. There's going to be positions available," he said.

Eighty-two paramedics are expected to have graduated by the end of the year from training programs in the province.

Other regions dissatisfied too

Ambulance services have come under fire lately, and not just in Saint-Quentin.

People on the Acadian Peninsula complained too, with issues reported just this week in Lamèque, where a 13-year-old boy's family had to wait around 40 minutes for an ambulance after the teen fell off an ATV.

Earlier this week, the Acadian Society of New Brunswick called for an end to the contract between Medavie and the province, and the topic of ambulance services has dominated politics in recent weeks.

Losier said he expects other regions might come knocking on his door now and said he is willing to work with the different communities.

"I'm not going to say it's a walk in the park," said Losier of the past few weeks.

"The paramedics are working very hard...they're doing their best. We're under the microscope."