A Chatham-Kent Fire and Emergency Services Ambulance (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)A Chatham-Kent Fire and Emergency Services Ambulance (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Chatham

CK Councillor Wants EMS Management Roles Clearly Defined

Ambulance services in Chatham-Kent are going under the microscope again.

This time, Chatham-Kent councillor Michael Bondy wants to take a closer look at how EMS issues are handled under a system that includes a municipal fire and emergency services branch and a contract with Medavie.

Bondy will be presenting a motion at Monday night's council meeting, which will look at the role of the municipality regarding the day-to-day management of EMS. The motion states that its purpose is to "clarify the responsibility of the management of EMS and it is requested that these managerial roles be clearly defined as prescribed by the contract with Medavie and the provincial regulations."

According to Bondy, the municipality agreed to a five-year contract with the health care provider Medavie in 2016. The councillor says before the last contract was reached, Chatham-Kent's fire department and EMS were managed separately. He adds that the motion for a blended service was initially defeated and failed. The two services have since been combined to make Chatham-Kent Fire & Emergency Services.

"My concern is that the fire department is managing the ambulance service, which should not be happening because we have contracted out that managament role to Medavie," says Bondy.

Bondy says he just wants to make sure that the municipality is getting their money worth with Medavie.

"Obviously it's important that EMS and ambulance services run smoothly for the health and benefit of all of us... the reason that I'm asking for this definition is that we have signed a contract and we're spending a lot of taxpayer money on a firm to manage EMS, so I want to be sure that the tax money is not being frivolously spent on a management team that's not able to do their job," explains Bondy.

Bondy says his goal is to have both the municipality and Medavie clearly understand their roles and responsibilities within the contract so that emergency medical services can run more smoothly.

"As long as they're able to execute those roles, which are legally defined within their contract, then I think everybody will be fine and happy. I think what's happening now is that there is a blurring of who's in charge--who's managing EMS...and that's what I want to have defined," says Bondy.

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