The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With a snip of the scissors Tuesday, Premier Greg Selinger ushered in a new era of emergency medical care in the Flin Flon region. He helped cut the ribbon to officially open the new provincially funded Flin Flon Emergency Medical Services Station overlooking Ross Lake. 'It will reduce response times, and reducing response times saves lives,' Premier Selinger said. 'The faster you can get to somebody who's been in an accident or has a heart attack or another health crisis, the greater the chance of them preserving their life and quality of life.' Though no hard data is available, the Northern Health Region says the new EMS station shaves minutes off response times compared to when ambulances and paramedics were based at the Flin Flon General Hospital. For one, paramedics, who used to await calls on a floor at the hospital above the ambulance garage, are now closer to their ambulances at the one-storey facility. For another, all three ambulances are stored indoors, heated and ready to go at all times. At the hospital, the third ambulance stayed outdoors due to space restrictions, so if it was needed in the winter, paramedics would have to warm it up first. The new 2,700-square-foot EMS station also has a more central location than the hospital, though some have wondered about the impact of the rail crossing a block away near the Gas Bar. Located at the former Ross Lake Market Garden, the new station quietly went into service earlier this year ahead of a planned grand opening ceremony. Well spent Originally budgeted at $850,000, the province ended up doling out $1.2 million for the facility _ money well spent in the view of Helga Bryant, CEO of the Northern Health Region. 'This new facility has everything we need for a state-of-the-art EMS station in one convenient, central location,' said Bryant. 'In addition to featuring efficient, ventilated space for all the ambulances, it includes training and storage space, office space and overall represents a significant improvement from the previous garage-only station in Flin Flon.' Also full of praise for the facility was Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen, who joined Premier Selinger and Bryant at Tuesday morning's ribbon-cutting. 'The EMS station is not only important for Flin Flon, (but) for Creighton, for Beaver Lake, for Bakers (Narrows) _ it's for our area,' he said. Meanwhile, the province says planning continues for another local health care upgrade _ an expansion and redevelopment of the hospital's emergency room and admitting area. 'We're moving forward on that in terms of (a) feasibility study to ensure that it gets put in place and has milestones so we can track progress on it,' Premier Selinger said. Premier Selinger said the project will take into account the fact that Flin Flon is now part of the Northern Health Region, borne out of a merger between northern Manitoba's two major regional health authorities. 'The demand will be different now that you have merged RHAs because you'll be serving a wider population base,' the premier said. 'So you want to do it right for the future.' Premier Selinger first announced the ER project more than two years ago. At that time the cost was estimated at $10 million, but the province says it's too early in the planning stages to provide an updated financial projection.
