New emergency medical services stations have opened in southern Manitoba.
The province announced the new stations in Crystal City and Portage la Prairie on Monday.
“These new stations support enhanced emergency care for patients,” said Health Minister Audrey Gordon in a provincial release.
Gordon said the stations will act as operational hubs for paramedics to ensure quick emergency responses in all parts of the region.
The province says it spent a combined $3.8 million on the stations.
The station in Portage la Prairies is the fourth busiest in the province outside Winnipeg and, according to the province, staff based in the city responded to nearly 3,100 calls last year.
The new 5,834-sq.-ft. facility in Portage will replace a station located in a firehall in nearby Southport.
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The new station in Crystal City is 1,800 sq. ft., which the province says will provide more room for vehicles as well as office and staff areas.
The government’s announcement was quickly panned by the union representing 6,500 allied health professionals in Manitoba, including paramedics.
Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president, Bob Moroz, said the government should be focused on hiring more paramedics, not building new EMS stations.
“The Manitoba Government seems to think they can replace some EMS stations and that will fix Rural EMS. It won’t. Response times have been trending up due to lack of paramedics,” Moroz said in a release.
“It’s bad news for rural Manitobans that this government has their head in the sand while the rural paramedic staffing crisis gets worse.”
–With files from The Canadian Press