On today’s show, three provincial groups are calling for reform of the province’s ambulance services, and what they say is an increasing reliance on volunteer fire departments to fill in the gaps in rural ambulance services. We talk with Roger Pitre, first vice president of the New Brunswick Association of Fire Chiefs, UMNB president and mayor of Grand Bay Westfield Brittany Merrifield, and Chris Hood, Executive Director at the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick, about why they believe the province should make changes before renewing an ambulance service contract with Medavie Health Services in 2027.
“We have contractual performance indicators that probably aren’t reflective of what is reasonable,” says Hood. “So we’re saying we need to look at them, and build the foundation of the system appropriately.”
“We’re concerned about the cost of subsidization,” says Merrifield. “We’re also worried about public safety and the safety of our residents when we’re talking about the lower response in terms of when the ambulances actually arrive on the scene of a call.”
