The union representing ambulance dispatchers is raising the alarm over a move of the dispatch centre from Cambridge to Hamilton, but the local chief of paramedic services says so far the move has had no ill effects.
In the early hours of Dec. 17, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care closed the Cambridge Central Ambulance Communications Centre and moved its remaining dispatchers to Hamilton.
The Cambridge dispatch centre was one of 22 in the province. It handled the dispatching of ambulances within Waterloo Region, Guelph and Wellington County. Now those ambulances are dispatched from Hamilton.
The ministry decided to move the remaining dispatchers to Hamilton because of staffing issues, said Lucy Morton, regional vice-president for Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents the dispatchers.
“It is very difficult to keep people there for multiple reasons, first of all it’s precarious work, also the stress level for that job, no matter where they work, is ridiculous,” said Morton.
Ambulance dispatchers are provincial employees, said Morton. She said they make about $10 an hour less than their counterparts working for municipalities ad fire or police dispatchers.
“They just don’t have the people coming in and the people staying,“ said Morton. “When you’re making roughly $20 an hour and those who are hired by the municipalities are making $30-plus an hour, why would you stay?”
Cambridge-based dispatchers who are already working 12-hour shifts will now have to add two hours of travel time to Hamilton, said Morton.
“Their days are extended at least until 14 hour with travel time,” she said.
Morton doesn’t believe the move is a temporary measure, in part because of the ‘horrendous’ cost to move the IT infrastructure from Cambridge to Hamilton.
The Hamilton dispatch centre is not currently equipped to auto-locate calls in Waterloo Region, Guelph and Wellington County — something Morton said would put people at risk if there is a disconnection or someone calling is not able to speak.
“This is just a severe crisis waiting to happen, at the expense of the communities,” said Morton.
That auto-locate service isn't expected to go online in Hamilton for a number of weeks.
The city of Guelph operates ambulance services in the city and within Wellington County.
On Monday, Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service chief Stephen Dewer told GuelphToday that he is watching the development closely but has so far seen no negative effects from the change.
“It wouldn’t be optimal to have the service continuing out of Hamilton, but I leave that up to the Ministry of Health. I know they have difficulties, but so far we haven’t noticed a specific effect in our area,” said Dewer.
A lack of auto-locating ability by ambulance dispatchers is a non-issue in Guelph and Wellington County, said Dewer, because 911 calls for those areas are first received by Guelph Police and the OPP, respectively.
“It’s not an issue for us. The 911 calls are answered in our area by police," said Dewer. “They will stay on the line and make sure the address is available. That adds to their workload, but it doesn’t affect me.”
“We aren’t aware of any calls where they haven’t been able to locate (someone) because they don’t have that system up and running yet,” added Dewer.
The change will be tested on New Year’s Eve, said Morton, because it is traditionally one of the days of the year with the highest call volumes.
“People are being put at risk and the government is still saying everything is fine," she said.
