By Mark Squibb/September 30, 2021
Like many folks in Trepassey and surrounding area, Rita Pennell heard that her community would be losing one of two ambulances not through an official government release or announcement, but from others in the town.
Pennell, who just last week was made mayor of Trepassey following her acclamation to council, said she first heard about the issue on June 29 and phoned into Open Line that same morning.
Pennell, and others, have been fighting to keep both ambulances in Trepassey ever since.
“We have written letters, probably four or five hundred, we have called, our MHA has sent texts and e-mails, (Avalon MP) Ken McDonald has sent e-mails, and up until this morning he hasn’t answered any of them,” said Pennell of Minister of Health and Community Services John Haggie.
The Health Department views the matter differently.
The Irish Loop Post inquired about the situation this past week and received an answer that was similar to a reply received back in June. The Department maintains that Trepassey is not losing an ambulance, but that the ambulance is simply being relocated.
That ambulance, says the Department, is being moved to Ferryland Emergency Services based in Cape Broyle, while the other will remain in Trepassey.
“This relocation was required due to changing demographics in the region,” read the government statement. “Over the past three decades, Trepassey has witnessed a significant decline in its population without an adjustment in ambulance coverage. Over the same time period the population in and around Cape Broyle/Ferryland has grown, again without an adjustment in ambulance resources. Emergency call volume in the Cape Broyle/Ferryland region is now twice that of the Trepassey region. “
The note from the Department concludes by saying officials will continue to monitor the demand for services in the region and, if the demand warrants it, consider moving the Ferryland ambulance to a community closer to Trepassey when the Trepassey ambulance is engaged on a call.
That explanation is not enough for Pennell, who for years drove an ambulance based in Trepassey prior to her retirement.
She said keeping the ambulance in Trepassey is a matter of common sense.
“If I had a heart attack or a stroke tomorrow, I would have to call Cape Broyle, and, providing there’s one there, it would take between an hour and fifteen minutes or an hour and thirty minutes on a good day,” said Pennell, who worked as a paramedic with Ryan’s Ambulance for 40 years.
“There’s nobody in Cape Broyle, going to come up through our country on a winter’s day,” said Pennell. “I know it, I was 40 years at it. People are going to be left to die. Or they’re going to die in the backset of a car. We’ve gone back one hundred years.”
Pennell said she is disappointed the community found out about the relocation not from government, but from ambulance workers.
Th official confirmation from Haggie did not come until July 7.
“They didn’t consult with us,” said Pennell. “Why didn’t they sit down with us?”
Pennell said that she, and others, will keep after them.
“I don’t know what will happen, but I hope they listen,” she said.
Pennell was first elected to council in 1985 and was elected mayor in 1989. Following her term as mayor, she stepped aside from municipal politics. She won a seat at the table during a by-election 1999, and has since served as councilor, deputy mayor, and mayor.
“I promised myself one time this would never happen again,” laughed Pennell when asked how it felt to be back in the chair. “But it happened.”
Joan Power, who served as mayor for the last seven years, did not run for re-election.
Pennell, however, has been busy since being named mayor last week. She arranged to have MHA O’ Driscoll and Avalon MP McDonald visit Trepassey to view breakwater damage sustained by Hurricane Larry, as well as meet with the Harbour Authority about funding.
“It was a really productive meeting,” said Pennell.
She also had the misfortune to have her town overrun with pirates over the weekend, but fortunately they turned out to be the fun kind of pirates who helped raise funds for the Trepassey Lion’s Club.
“And this weekend I got tied up because the pirates were here, and I had to welcome them,” she said. “So, I had supper with them and then had breakfast with them Sunday morning… We had a very fun filled weekend.”
