The mayor of Altona is once again voicing his concern over ambulance response times for his community and surrounding area. Melvin Klassen says a 30 minute response time on an emergency call in the community is just not acceptable.

This is an issue the mayor has raised with Southern Health-Santé Sud officials for several years, but no real improvements have been made. The RHA has always argued that

Melvin Klassenit's response times are within the provincial standard for rural areas. That standard is measured from the first call to the time an ambulance arrives on scene, which should occur in a minimum of 30 minutes. An RHA spokesperson says they meet or exceed that, depending on whether it's a community where there is an ambulance immediately in the area.

"Who sets that standard?" said Klassen. "The irony is, before the RHA took over ambulance services when we had our fire department looking after it, we had 10 to 15 minute response time. It's ridiculous. If someone is having a heart attack they need to be responed to within 10 minutes; 15 minutes at the very least. Yet, they're saying that 30 minutes is adequate? It doesn't jibe."

Southern Health operates 20 EMS stations and a total of 22 ambulances within the region. Two of those vehicles are stationed in Altona, next to the hospital.

"Where are they, and why aren't they being used?" asked the mayor. "It appears there's a communication gap."

Klassen says a meeting between the Altona Clinic Board and the RHA's coordinator of ambulance service is being arranged to again discuss this issue.

The mayor says he's not opposed to moving higher up the chain of command, perhaps to the health minister's office, if their concerns are not addressed.