Holyrood joins chorus of towns with ambulance concerns

By Mark Squibb | April 8, 2021

Some Holyrood councillors say they share residents’ concerns about the ambulance service in town, and are looking to the provincial government for help.

“The ambulance service here in Holyrood, is… how would you say it? It’s not the best,” said councilor Roger Myette. “So, we need to make sure that the level of ambulance service in Holyrood is kept up to date and make sure that the responses are as quick as possible, and go from there.”

Myette said some years back, government was looking at ways to improve both response times and the number of paramedics on the ground, but that council hasn’t heard anything to that end recently.

A motion was made to write the Minister of Health to get an update on ambulance services and how the new government plans to address ambulance concerns in the Holyrood area.

Mayor Kevin Costello noted the topic was discussed during the Meet-The-Candidate’s forum hosted by the town, and he hoped the MHA voted in would work with the Town on the issue moving forward. Costello made those remarks just before the close of the election, which saw PC incumbent Helen Conway Ottenheimer returned to office with 3,180 votes, beating out Liberal candidate George Murphy, who had 2,430 votes, and the NDP candidate Tony Chadwick, who received 228.