Fort Frances, DSSAB competing for ambulance service

The Town of Fort Frances and the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board have sent competing proposals to the Ministry of Health to provide the district’s land ambulance service.
The service currently is provided by the province through Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc. here.
“I don’t think there are too many options. The government said it is going to download this to some group whether we like it or not,” Atikokan Mayor Dennis Brown said.
At a meeting Feb. 17, DSSAB discussed its proposal to provide the service–and has garnered the support of a number of district municipalities.
“Our council wrote a letter of support for DSSAB because it is something that is a concern for the district and if it comes down to being an ASB some day, it should be an area representation,” Emo Reeve Brian Reid said.
Because the DSSAB was established by the province as a pre-requisite for a larger area services board (ASB), many of those endorsing DSSAB’s provision of the land ambulance service say it should begin to handle downloaded services immediately.
“The fact is that the ASB would eventually end up with the land ambulance [so] to me it makes sense,” said Alberton Reeve Judy Koski.
But Fort Frances council has gone ahead with its proposal without consulting surrounding municipalities.
“We weren’t aware that Fort Frances began to prepare a proposal,” said Mayor Brown.
He added Atikokan had begun a similar proposal “to ensure our concerns were addressed, “noting those concerns were worked out by DSSAB.
Local DSSAB members were informed of the Fort Frances proposal at the Feb. 17 meeting. “I don’t think [Fort Frances] asked any other municipalities for their support,” said Mayor Brown.
Fort Frances CAO Bill Naturkach said yesterday the town would like to provide the service because it is a crucial one for area residents.
“We are very capable to provide the service. We can do a good job and health is very important,” he stressed.
“We have the resources to provide an excellent service to the area, we have the infrastructure to support that service,” he noted. “We have a large chunk of the population and we pay a large chunk of the bill.”
Meanwhile, Coun. Dave Bourgeault argued DSSAB hasn’t been able to reduce costs for the town–which the province set it up to do.
“Here you’ve added another layer and I haven’t seen any kind of reduction. We’ve kept our controllable costs at zero but we may see a tax increase because of the uncontrollable costs,” he noted.
For other DSSAB members, fair representation remains a concern.
“I think it was our feeling that it is definitely a very important service of district-wide concern and DSSAB seems a logical place to put it,” said Reeve Reid.
The deadline for the proposals is March 22, and it will be up to the ministry to decide who provides the service.
“I would just hope the ministry would choose the best provider rather than the one with the most support,” Coun. Deane Cunningham said during Monday night’s council meeting here.
Naturkach said there are three options for whoever provides the service–continue a contract with Riverside Health Care Facilities Inc., send out requests for proposals for the best contract (including Riverside), or take on the service internally with existing resources.