TERRACE BAY — The mayors of both Terrace Bay and Schreiber are each making their case to have a new consolidated paramedic base located within their communities.
The Superior North EMS master plan includes merging a number of regional EMS bases, including combining Schreiber and Terrace Bay into one station.
In a meeting held in Terrace Bay this week, stakeholders from both communities along with Superior North EMS met to discuss some of the specifics about the new station such as location and design.
Superior North EMS Chief Shane Muir asked both municipalities to have their applications ready as soon as possible.
“Some of the things we are going to need is a space that is big enough. It going to have to have the appropriate anchorage. It going to have to have good access so the ambulances can have quick access to the highway and really decrease those response times,” said Muir.
Depending on where the ambulance base is positioned, the amalgamation of the two bases could serve both communities better.
Muir said the amalgamation will enable the staff to coordinate their shifts to optimize coverage of the region. Paramedics are currently working on a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift during the day and then they are on-call throughout the night.
“What we want to see with the station amalgamation is more on-site paramedics. It would be staggered shifts and more on-site time where they would be housed in the same location as the ambulance,” said Muir.
However, Terrace Bay Mayor Paul Malashewski suggested there have been changes from what was initially communicated when the station consolidation plan was first announced.
“There were a few things we didn’t know. Previously we were told they wouldn’t be a change in response times and now we have been told there would be a change,” said Malashewski.
The presentation from Superior North EMS indicated that placing the new station in a centralized area of Schreiber would increase the response time in Terrace Bay by nearly 10 minutes.
Malashewski said that's enough reason to keep ambulances in Terrace Bay.
“I think everyone on council and administration are going to fight hard to have the ambulance stay in Terrace Bay,” said Malashewski.
Malashewski said Terrace Bay officials have shown five potential places to build the new station in the municipality.
On the other hand, a centralized EMS base closer to Schreiber’s would improve response times in areas. This would mean that Paramedics can be more mobile in these communities since they would end up being transported to McCausland Hospital in Terrace Bay.
Schreiber Mayor Kevin Mullins said his community is central to the region
“I really believe that is the key factor," Mullins said. “You need the ambulance station in Schreiber because regionally, and I am not counting out anything east of Terrace Bay, but west of Schreiber is where the other communities are like Rossport, Nickle Island, Pays Platt, the First Nations, White Sands, Selim — you got two provincial parks.”
Call volumes could be another factor. Superior North EMS data showed 1,266 total calls for service in Terrace Bay between 2019 and 2023, while Schreiber had 1,027 during the same time period.
Although both municipalities can apply for the EMS stations to be built in their communities, Superior North EMS will have the final say on where the new base is located. This move has some stakeholders feeling like they are being pitted against each other in their bid to keep their communities safe.
“Somebody is not going to be happy in this decision, but I believe that the town that doesn’t get the station, hopefully, will get the paramedicine program and they already have the hospital. I think you have to take different things into account. I think that would be fair,” Mullins said.
Mullins said Schreiber has three or four sites that will be shown as possibilities.
Muir said the paramedic service doesn't intend to pit communities against one another during the process.
