Recently, municipal staff completed a report of more than a dozen pages laying out the case for the ambulance and its personnel staying at Boissevain Health Centre. According to Administrator Leo Poulin, Council met with Arthur-Virden MLA Doyle Piwniuk in July about the reported closure, announced by the Province in June. For that meeting, staff had produced a power point presentation about the reason the change was negative. Poulin said it was received well under the circumstances, with Piwniuk saying his biggest concern regarding the closures was the one in Boissevain, the second largest town in his constituency. He suggested making the presentation into a business case, which could be presented to Premier Brian Pallister and Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen.

“So we put it in a business case,” Poulin explained, “touched base with him (Piwniuk) when the draft was made, and sent it out last week. He sent an email saying he sent it on to the health minister.”

The entire community, including Council, was shocked when it was announced on June 29 that Manitoba Health was launching a major overhaul in its emergency medical system. This would include the closure of 18 rural ambulance stations, including Boissevain. Once completely enacted over the next several years, it would mean ambulance services for the community would run out of Killarney or Deloraine.

In the case presented by the municipality, they state the Boissevain station has 2.8 full time staff and casuals, who are on call 24/7 as well as having regular hours. The daytime response time is 3 minutes, plus travel time to location and at night is seven minutes plus travel.

Compare this to the time from either neighbouring community: from Deloraine - 28 minutes; from Killarney - 31 minutes.

It shows up in other areas as well. It takes 16 minutes for the Boissevain ambulance to get to Minto, while it is 42 minutes to get there from Deloraine and 34 minutes from Killarney.

To the Peace Garden it is 24 minutes from Boissevain while 40 minutes from Deloraine and 43 minutes from Killarney.

As well, despite the government saying it would be low volume stations that would close, the stats on emergency room visits and EMS calls show Boissevain has higher numbers than Deloraine and is almost equal to Killarney.

There are plenty of arguments for keeping the service in Boissevain. The community is growing, adding 73 new housing lots since 2012, with plans for an additional 35 lots over the next few years. The municipality has two major highways - #10 that runs through Boissevain, and #3 located just south. If the closure went ahead, there would be no ambulance station on #10 between Brandon and the US border. This is a major trucking route with dangerous goods moving on the highway every day. In fact, in 2016, just fewer than one million vehicles travelled through the community. Closing the ambulance station here could hardly make the situation safer.

Also, it is not strictly about Boissevain. As stated before, Minto is also serviced by our EMS, as is a part of the Municipality of Grassland. The Peace Garden has between 75,000 to 100,000 visitors a year, and also includes the Music Camp and Athletic Camps, which attract thousands of young people each summer. Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is also a major attraction. It is this kind of information Poulin said decision makers did not take into consideration when they made their choices.

“They just did dots on the map,” he said, “what made the most sense to reach their parameters of having ambulances 30 minutes away for 90% of the province. But that doesn’t do us any good at all.”

“There are all the different aspects. This is such a tourist attraction centre. It is not just Communities in Bloom, but it’s hunting, fishing, the park, lakes, the Peace Garden. It goes on and on. You might just see the population of Boissevain, but how many people actually come through here?”

As people get older, they tend to rely on these services more. Right now, the average age in Boissevain is 43.8 years, as opposed to the provincial average of 39.2.

There are many areas of concern. The closest ambulance is 30 minutes away at the best of times. What if the weather is bad or the highway is being worked on? What if the volunteer fire department has to deal with a medical situation for a long time without help? Who is liable? The example of the RCMP was cited. When the head office was moved to Killarney, the community was assured it would not notice the difference. But a recent accident saw an hour pass before officers arrived at the scene. What if this was the EMS? What would happen?

Included also were several Facebook comments from locals and other respondents. None were in favour of the changes, and some were very acerbic.

The report included letters of support from others like the Municipality of Grassland, Peace Garden and local service clubs and other organizations. Boissevain-Morton is asking for the decision to close the local EMS be reversed. If consolidation is a must, they are asking for Boissevain to be considered as a centre to service surrounding communities.

Poulin said that after the announcement, there has been little else said by the Province and no one really knows when anything will be done. The municipality is inviting citizens to come and take a look at the report they have sent to the government.

Poulin said they have not heard back from the Province, but they are hoping to get a response sometime this fall.

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff