Ambulance services are now present at both ends of the Island, Premier Michael Dunkley has announced alongside Health Minister Jeanne Atherden.

“While the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service emergency medical technicians could respond from multiple locations across the Island, up until today the only ambulances that could bring people to hospital were those released from the hospital in Paget,” Mr Dunkley said, standing before Clearwater Fire Station in St David’s.

A collaborative effort between the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) and the Bermuda Fire Service now offers ambulances that can respond from Clearwater and Port Royal Fire Station in the West End.

“From this day, people who fall ill or are involved in an accident in the outer parishes will no longer have to wait for an ambulance from Paget,” Mr Dunkley said.

“Whether it is a stroke victim, where any delay in medical care can have lifelong implications, or an accident victim with head trauma or loss of blood, every second counts in vital life-threatening situations.

“The aim of this new initiative is to increase the chance of saving lives. There will be ambulances in the East and West who can get to them quickly, and take them to the Emergency Department without delay. This is a significant enhancement when you consider the growing commercial and business hub in Dockyard as well as the world heritage site in St George’s.”

Placing permanent ambulances at either end of the Island was an initiative announced in the Throne Speech last November, and trials began in January to upgrade the service.

“That promise has been kept to the people of Bermuda,” the Premier said.

The old arrangement had fallen short for Kenneth Bascome, the St George’s Member of Parliament, who long argued that a permanent arrangement was essential for the East End.

Mr Bascome thanked Mr Dunkley and Ms Atherden for “listening to the voice from the East”.

“This is just the beginning of great things to come,” he said.

In the past, Mr Bascome had said that an ambulance service would be of greater use to residents than the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre, which the BHB considered closing last year.

Asked yesterday if the enhanced service would have any bearing on the fate of the Lamb Foggo clinic, Ms Atherden said the BHB was still examining the clinic’s use. “I expect to hear something from them in due course,” she said.

Ms Atherden said the East-West ambulances might seem “like a small adjustment to the Island’s emergency service, but it essentially changes the dynamics of how we respond to emergencies at either end of the Island.

“It is faster and more effective and will help us care for those most critically ill or injured.”

The new service will not add extra demands to the latter, chief fire officer Reginald L Burchall said, as they attend emergency calls in any event.