On January 18th the MPOA were made aware of a meeting to be held January 27th regarding the possible closure of the Ambulance Service in Denbigh.  Together with some of the neighbouring cottage associations, we each individually sent an email of support on behalf of our members  to Larry Keech, CAO of L&A, for distribution to Warden and Council.  The email is noted below in blue sent from Arndt Kruger, MPOA President, followed by the response we received.

Given the very short notice regarding the Ambulance Service in Denbigh, and not living in L&A county we would like to request that this e-mail be made available to all members of Lennox and Addington County Council prior to the next council meeting on January 27, 2016.

Dear Members of the L&A County Council,
The Board of Directors of the Mazinaw Property Owners’ Association (MPOA) do not support the closure of the Ambulance Service station in Denbigh as it puts the residents and also the large number of seasonal residents in this northern part of the county at a greater risks when they need to obtain timely medical assistance.

What a significant disadvantage this decision will have for all the residents year round. Even with flashing lights an ambulance will not be able to reach the Denbigh area from Northbrook in less than 30 - 40 minutes (based on actual driving experience) and since probably most EMS calls require a further trip to a hospital/health facility in Bancroft, Barry’s Bay or Renfrew. This will add at least 40 - 45 minutes (i.e. 1 hour and 20 minutes) until they reach these facilities. A trip to the hospital in Napanee for that matter, would add almost one hour and half to the trip from Northbrook to Denbigh. These scenarios are difficult to defend by any elected county politician whose highest goal must be to provide ambulance service to residents in a reasonable time.

For many in the county, Denbigh may be remote or far away at the northern edge of the county and it has few residents. However, when one takes a broader view of the region, suddenly Denbigh becomes the ‘heart or the centre of a large region’ of smaller towns, hamlets and many lakes with thousands of seasonal residents with quite a few using their summer residence during the winter months. If one were to draw a circle around Denbigh in the driving distance of 40 - 45 minutes there is no ambulance service available. This is a sizeable area with so many residents in L&A County, Renfrew County and, to a lesser degree, in Frontenac County.

Politicians are called upon to look beyond their ‘county fence’ and talk to their fellow politicians in neighbouring counties. It has become obvious that there needs to be a solution that is overarching, reaches beyond county borders and will in the end, serve the residents of this fairly sizeable region. Parochial thinking is not good enough in this situation. Common sense demands a solution that involves all the neighbouring counties, and a way has to be found to fund the Denbigh ambulance service by all the counties which will potentially benefit from this vital service location.

It has been frequently stated that cottagers/water front property owners provide a large part of the tax base in many townships and we are not getting a lot of service in return. However, we are not just interested in our well being during the summer season but rather if the permanent residents of this great tourist and cottage region are not cared for by their counties then we, the summer residents, will be negatively affected as well. We, the cottagers, depend in many different ways on the permanent residents who remain in this region and they gain from our interactions with them. We need them to be cared for and well serviced because this will serve us in the end. We are part of this community, not just during the sunnier seasons.

In closing we want to urge all the councillors of the county council to abandon any plans to cut the ambulance service in Denbigh. There must be more creative solutions that show the forward thinking of this council.

-----------------------------------------------------response received ----------------------------------------------------

County Council has not made any further determinations regarding the future of the ambulance service located at Denbigh.

In January County Council passed a motion directing the Warden and Management Staff to consult with the neighboring counties of Hastings, Renfrew and Frontenac regarding their willingness to assume a greater financial responsibility for the ambulance service located at Denbigh in order to maintain the service for their citizens. A meeting to initiate these discussions with representatives of the three counties was held on February 1, 2016.

To date, no formal responses have been received from any of the neighboring counties. I anticipate that County Council will resume their deliberations about the ambulance service located at Denbigh once these responses have been received.

Regards,

Larry Keech