Your ambulance might be gone from Brandon
Good morning from the wheat belt — five communities, strong roots, and stories worth your time.
So, you know how we sometimes joke about calling an ambulance and it taking a while? Well, it might get worse once. The Brandon firefighter-paramedic union is saying the province has a new rule that means our three main ambulances have to take patients on long trips. Like, out of town trips. Oba nä, that's not good. They're worried it's going to leave Brandon without any ambulances here for emergencies.
### What This Means for Brandon
* When our primary ambulances are doing transfers to, say, Winnipeg or Portage la Prairie, they aren't available for calls here in the city.
* This could mean longer wait times for folks having a heart attack on Victoria Avenue or an accident out by the Corral Centre.
* The union is sounding a real alarm here, saying this puts residents at risk. They aren't making a big fuss over nothing.
It just feels like a decision made by someone who doesn't live here and doesn't understand the distances involved or how vital those three ambulances are for a city our size. You can't just move essential services around without thinking about the people it impacts. What happens if there's a serious accident on the Trans-Canada east of town, and all our ambulances are already halfway to Winnipeg? That's something that makes you scratch your head once.
Leah Fehr-Broesky, MiTL Sports Desk.
You can hear more on this story tomorrow with Keith and the guys on the morning show — find them live at mornings.live.