TERRACE BAY — The mayors of two communities along the North Shore say they’re feeling differently on Tuesday – the day after Superior North EMS awarded a long-awaited amalgamated ambulance base to Terrace Bay.
Terrace Bay and Schreiber have lobbied hard over the past several years to host the site, which will provide emergency medical services to both municipalities, along with other nearby communities and First Nations. The amalgamation of the two existing bases was called for in an updated Superior North EMS master plan, received by Thunder Bay city council in 2021.
“We felt great,” Terrace Bay mayor Paul Malashewski told Dougall Media on Tuesday about hearing of the decision. “Town council and the residents will be more than happy that we were awarded the ambulance base.”
About 15 kilometres west on the Trans-Canada Highway, the mood wasn’t quite so upbeat.
“To be honest, I'm a little disappointed that new base is going to Terrace Bay, but at the same time, I'm grateful that we're going to have EMS service,” said Schreiber mayor Kevin Mullins.
“I totally wish it was coming here, for sure.”
Superior North EMS chief Shane Muir told Dougall Media that he expects ambulances operating out of the new consolidated base will effectively be patrolling the region, not necessarily statically tied to the Terrace Bay site.
Mullins said he’d like to see two staffed ambulances operating during the daytime hours, with one being more on the move between the communities. He also said he’s been in talks with Superior North EMS leadership about the use of paramedicine programs at a local level, and supports the use of services like AmbuTrans for non-emergency transports.
In Terrace Bay, Malashewski said the base will be on the highway, next to the community’s Service Ontario location. He added that having a modern facility in town should help the whole area.
“We need them in this area quite a bit,” he said of the demand for paramedics. “We've been in Code Black a number of times in the last couple of years, so having a state-of-the-art facility in our town will help Shane (Muir) with recruitment and also retention for the paramedics.”
Code Blacks are periods of time where no ambulances are available.
Muir said that Terrace Bay was chosen for the location based on data around call volumes, how long paramedics spent on calls, and the severity of calls.