The City of Brandon has received $2.2-million from Shared Health for a third primary ambulance and fifteen primary care paramedics.
The city said in a media release, “Brandon Fire & Emergency Services (BFES) has proudly operated the ambulance service in Brandon since 1917. Although the population and the call volume in Brandon has steadily increased over the years, the City has been operating with only two primary ambulances.
This third ambulance and ten additional primary care paramedics will allow BFES to be able to attend to more, if not all, calls within the city, thus not requiring rural ambulances to be reassigned from their region to assist in Brandon.
“We are very pleased for the additional funding for a third primary ambulance and ten additional primary care paramedics,” says Brandon Fire & Emergency Services Chief Parlow. “Today’s announcement will ensure that when the residents of Brandon need an ambulance for medical care, that an ambulance will be available. ”
Along with the funding for a third ambulance, Shared Health has also provided funding for an additional five paramedics for the Detention Unit at Brandon Police Service.
Brandon Police Service Acting Chief, Randy Lewis, states “The addition of paramedics in our Detention Unit will free up police officers who presently spend a significant amount of time having intoxicated prisoners cleared medically at Brandon Regional Health Centre Emergency prior to lodging them in our Detention Unit.”
Lewis also states that having paramedics working in our Detention Unit will allow for the Brandon Police Service to meet best practice procedures by providing ongoing monitoring and care of prisoners up to the time that they are removed from the custody of the Police Service.” Construction on the new unit is expected to be completed at the end of November.
“The City of Brandon is very pleased with today’s announcement of additional funding for the additional ambulance and primary care providers,” notes Mayor Jeff Fawcett. “As the Province’s second largest city, we not only provide critical services to our residents, but also to our surrounding region. I want to thank the former and current provincial governments for their continued partnership in providing critical services to the residents of Brandon and our surrounding region.”
