Council threw its support behind the Mayor’s community action group to preserve emergency services at St. Marys Memorial Hospital.
At council’s regular meeting on Feb. 9, Mayor Jamie Hahn requested that council support the action group, which, Hahn says, has already garnered 2,100 names on a petition to keep the emergency room at 24 hours. The group’s next step is to present the petition to the hospital’s local advisory committee meeting this Thursday, Feb. 18.
Coun. Marg Luna requested that the motion of support include the phrase that “the citizens of St. Marys are entitled to a fair and equitable health care system,” noting that, with a potential lack of emergency services, St. Marys citizens could fall behind other areas in standards of care.
Coun. Bill Osborne noted that “St. Marys will never be fair and equitable in terms of health care,” in that the hospital’s small size means that it would never have all the services that larger centres, such as London, would have, especially when it comes to specialized services like cardiac care.
Luna agreed with this, but noted that the key point in preserving St. Marys’ emergency room is that “(the hospital) has the ability to stabilize you” within 20 minutes, a critical benchmark in surviving a heart attack. After that stabilization, then a patient can be sent to a larger centre for specialized care essential to recovery.
Mayor Hahn also noted that it was in council’s best interest to support the motion because the potential increase in ambulance use -- in transporting patients to Stratford General Hospital’s emergency room rather than St. Marys’ -- would translate to added expense for the municipality, since EMS staff must wait with the ambulance at the hospital until a patient is admitted, plus travel time.
Raises for town employees
All town employees, including the volunteer fire department and council, will receive a two per cent salary increase this year.
A one per cent increase will occur in April, with a second one per cent increase coming in October. Chair of administration and finance Coun. Bill Osborne that the total increase amounts to about $60,000 for this year, with roughly 17 per cent of that figure due to changes in mininum wage structure. 
St. Marys now an active community
Council also passed an “Active Communities” charter at its Feb. 9 meeting.
Devised by the recreation department, in conjunction with the Green Committee, the charter is a response to a Healthy Living Perth initiative that encourages active modes of transportation,, such as walking and cycling.
This charter is a tempered version of an intial document which listed the rights of walkers and cyclists, terminology which could potentially make the town liable for legal decisions.
“The charter we were looking at before dealt with a lot of rights,” noted Coun. Bruce Symons, who also sits on the Green Committee. “I think values is a better way of stating things.”