District Social Services Administration Boards across the province won an important battle last week when the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care announced it will not close the Judson Street Ambulance Supply Centre in Toronto after all.
“The McGuinty government has reversed the decision of the previous government to close the Judson Street Ambulance Supply Centre,” the ministry said in a press release Thursday.
“This is just wonderful news and something this DSSAB has been lobbying very hard for,” said Donna Dittaro, CAO of the Rainy River DSSAB.
The centre supplies most municipalities in the province with their ambulances and related medical equipment. Staff at the centre also ensure all equipment meets provincial standards.
The decision to close the supply centre initially had been made by the former Conservative government under premier Ernie Eves, which had downloaded the responsibility of ambulances to municipalities.
The original closure date had been set for 2006, but then was abruptly changed to March, 2004 without consulting municipalities.
After Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals took office in October, they appeared prepared to follow through on the Conservatives’ decision.
The Rainy River DSSAB wrote a report on the effects the Judson Street store closure would have on smaller service managers and sent it to the ministry in January.
Because the store purchases vehicles in bulk, it is able to obtain ambulances at much better prices than could individual municipalities, particularly smaller ones that only order them in small numbers.
All provincial DSSABs participated in a teleconference with the ministry in January to discuss alternative ways of supplying municipalities with ambulance equipment, and had been awaiting the ministry’s decision when the announcement was made Thursday.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
