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The Emergency Medical Services station in Grandview must be saved

In Question Period November 22,  I presented a petition of 1,000 signatures of people urging the government to continue and to expand the Emergency Medical Services station in Grandview. I presented additional petitions of 500 signatures each on November 23 and 24th.   There are many reasons why it would be wrong to close the Grandview ambulance and emergency medical services station   There is tremendous community support for keeping it open.  I called on the government to keep the Grandview EMS station open and to keep their promise not to cut front-line services.  You can see the Minister of Health's response in the video by clicking on this link - video on Grandview EMS services  The written text from Hansard is at the bottom of this post. 

November 25th, Naomi and I were in Grandview to meet with people in the community and to enjoy a community dinner together.  We were pleased to meet so many community members and to see the close working relationship between the community of Grandview, with their Mayor Lyle Morran and the community of Tootinaowazibeeng First Nation with their Chief Barry McKay.  It is one of the reasons why there should be an EMS station in Grandview.   Thank you to all the people in both communities for a great evening together.  I will continue working on your behalf at the Manitoba Legislature until we get the EMS in Grandview.  
Community Dinner in Grandview last night
Dr. Jim Rae speaking passionately about the importance of having the EMS station in Grandview.  

 FROM HANSARD:
Rural ER Services - Government Intention
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Health care is important to Manitobans.
      High-functioning emergency services in rural Manitoba face closure because the PCs are following a failed NDP strategy.
      I table today 1,000 signatures on a petition asking for the government to reverse its decision to close emergency medical services in Grandview. Rossburn and many other communities are also affected. These decisions are based on bad data, old data, and break the government's promise to spare front‑line services.
      Will the Premier (Mr. Pallister) keep his promise, or will he betray rural Manitobans by taking away critical health services from communities like Grandview and Rossburn?

Hon. Kelvin Goertzen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): Madam Speaker, certainly we know that the EMS system throughout Manitoba, but particularly in rural Manitoba, is a lifeline for those who live in rural Manitoba. The recommendations of the Toews report, which was commissioned by the NDP government, set out a standard that there should be service within 30 minutes from those who are getting called.
      We, of course, would like it to be even better than that, Madam Speaker, but that requires full‑time paramedics. It's one of the reasons why we were pleased to announce 29 new full-time paramedics. That was also again discussed yesterday in the Throne Speech, things that the member opposite voted against.
      You need paramedics to get that service. We're investing in paramedics, we're hiring paramedics, and we're employing paramedics for exactly that reason, Madam Speaker.


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