New EMS Station in Halton

On Friday I was asked to speak in my role as Chair of health and Social Services at the opening of the new EMS station in Southeast Oakville. This new 3,000 sq ft station which came in on budget at 1.3 million is a testament of the commitment Halton region has made to our EMS service.

Believe it or not but Halton EMS has only been around since Aug 2000. Halton set up a service basically from scratch that had about 56 employees at its inception. It now had over 150 employees. All dedicated to our health, safety and well being.

Our EMS service also uses Advance Care Paramedics which provides our citizens with a added level of protection.

Since Halton took over our service has grown not only in employees but we have seen a renewal of our stations. As of the opening of the Georgetown Station, all the old stations have been replaced with the exception of our Burlington one, which was extensively overhauled.

Our EMS workers have been recognised for their work in Haiti, when they responded to the call of a fellow employee after the earthquake, and flew down within days with needed supplies. They took with them the hope of all of Halton for the safety and well being of every Haitian citizen. The most powerful presentation I have ever heard from any group was from our 12 EMS workers when they came to Council to tell us about their experience in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Some of them were off to other countries to assist within weeks of returning from Haiti.

Our EMS staff was instrumental in working with Council to make sure the pubic access defibrillator (PAD) program was a success. It only seems like a few years ago we saw the program as having difficulties in getting traction and Councillors pushed to get them into public buildings.
This year alone from Mid May to the end of Aug PAD machines were used on 7 people in Halton, 6 are still with us to tell the story of their survival.

At Health and Social Services 2 weeks ago we discussed the need to strengthen that program by looking at making sure we set up initiatives that look at CPR, but also Healthy active lifestyles.

Our EMS workers have a strong symbiotic relationship with Halton Region and the Staff. We recognise their hard work and dedication, and they recognise our desire to build a community we can all be safe in and have the highest quality of life.

To our EMS, Fire and Police workers who sometimes deal with people on the worst day of their lives, who run into danger as we run away, who are always working to keep us safe. I can only offer the following,

THANK YOU!