Robertsville Ambulance Base opens

Jeff Green | Jul 23, 2014

Frontenac County celebrated the completion of its rural infrastructure last week with the opening of the third ambulance base in the County.

The new base is located at Hwy. 509 and Robertsville Road, and although it is odd to see an ambulance base at such an isolated location, it is located strategically to serve residents of North and Central Frontenac, Lanark Highlands and Tay Valley, while being within a short drive of Hwy. 7. It also eliminates a situation that was one of the first things that Charboneau wanted to address when he first arrived at Frontenac County eight years ago.

At the time, the ambulance serving the north end of the county was parked outside in the parking lot at the works garage for North Frontenac at Lavant Road and Road 509. Because of the equipment and medicine in the vehicle the ambulance had to be left running in order to prevent freezing throughout each shift through the winter season, costing money for fuel and causing unnecessary pollution.

“That was the first thing I wanted to address when I came here,” Charbonneau said a couple of years ago, “it was the impetus for us to commission the IBI [consulting group] report into rural service delivery in 2009.”

That report recommended that an ambulance post be built in the vicinity of Ardoch Road and Road 509 in Central Frontenac to serve the northern portion of the county for 12 hours a day; that a 24-hour a day service be established in Sydenham; and that the 24-hour service that was already running out of the Parham base be maintained.

Although the stated priority of the department was the so-called 'northern' base, and funding was already in place to build it, the Sydenham base was built first. This happened for two reasons. For one thing, South Frontenac Council applied for and received an infrastructure grant to build the base, and the money had to be spent within a limited time frame. As well, North Frontenac Township Council did not want to see the northern base located so far south, at a location that is not even in North Frontenac. The Mayor of North Frontenac at that time was Ron Maguire, and with the support of his own council he urged Frontenac County to consider an alternate plan, which had also been referred to in the report but not recommended as a first option by the IBI group. That plan was to build a base in Ompah, almost 20 km to the northwest of the preferred location. The caveat to this plan was that the Parham base would eventually need to be closed and replaced by a base in Sharbot Lake in order to cover calls from Hwy. 7.

North Frontenac Council purchased a piece of land in Ompah to house not only the ambulance base but a township fire hall as well in the same building, Frontenac County Council agreed to enter into a joint project with North Frontenac. However, that project never came about, as costs rose to a level that North Frontenac Council could not accept. Eventually, North Frontenac pulled out, leaving Frontenac County to go back to the drawing board. They settled on the Robertsville site, which is just north of the site identified by the IBI group, and is in North Frontenac rather than Central Frontenac. Travel time to Hwy. 7 is almost the same, and the Robertsville Road, although it is a hilly gravel road, is the fastest route to Lanark County from that part of North Frontenac.

For local history buffs, the location is directly across the road from the former Robertsville mine site, where protests against uranium exploration took place in the summer of 2008.

As the building project was getting underway, a decision was made by County Council to upgrade the status of the Robertsville location from an ambulance post to an ambulance base. As a post attached to the Parham base, the paramedics would report each day to Parham at 6 am to pick up their ambulance and drive it to Robertsville. They would also return to Parham by 6 pm. By making Robertsville a base, the ambulance stays there and the paramedics report directly there, making it a true 12-hour a day service.

“Whether they live in one of our small hamlets, on one of our lake fronts, in agricultural lands or deep in the forest, residents of Frontenac County value their independence,” said Bud Clayton, Warden of Frontenac County and Mayor of North Frontenac, at the ceremonial opening of the base last Wednesday, July 16. “Ensuring that adequate services, like strategically placed ambulance stations, are in place allows our residents to continue enjoying the rural lifestyle that defines Frontenac County.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony came after Frontenac County Council held their monthly meeting in the base. Lunch was provided by the Snow Road FLAGS (Fire Ladies Auxiliary Group) – ham, turkey, salads, homemade biscuits and squares.