REGION OF WATERLOO AMBULANCE SCANDAL

Saturday's Waterloo Region Record advises us that "26 paramedics disciplined". Of the 26, eight were given written notices, sixteen were suspended and two fired. Ambulance chief John Prno also departed although no details were given. This is an extraordinary housecleaning and my first unworthy thought is that boy these unionized paramedics sure didn't have the bullet proof contracts that the School Boards have been giving teachers for decades.

My second unworthy thought is that the list of offences and failure is serious and is it merely wishful thinking that no patients were allegedly harmed by the failures of these paramedics. Simply saying that you have no proof of patient harm may simply mean that no one has gone looking for it.

Thirdly I guess as bad as ambulance attendants failure "...to consistently follow patient-care standards..." is; I am amazed at both the accountability and the transparency.

Regional Councillor Sean Strickland may be fortunate that the principle of ministerial accountability doesn't fall upon municipal or regional councillors. He's the Chair of the regional committee that oversees emergency medical services. His comments "As we move forward, we're going to do whatever we can to ensure that the consistency and quality of patient care continues," are quite frankly ridiculous. We don't want the quality of patient care to continue, damn it. We want it to improve to the standard it's supposed to be at in the first place.