June 22nd, 2010

For immediate release

Ambulance New Brunswick Opens New Fleet Centre, Regional Office and Paramedic Quarters in Fredericton

FREDERICTON, NB – Ambulance New Brunswick’s new fleet centre, regional office and paramedic quarters in Fredericton is now officially open. Ambulance New Brunswick President and CEO Alan Stephen was joined by Health Minister Mary Schryer and Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside at the official opening ceremony.

“We are very proud to be able to give our employees the best tools and facilities so that they can deliver a world-class ambulance service throughout the province,” said Mr. Stephen. “With the opening of this new fleet centre, regional office and paramedic quarters, our paramedics, mechanics and other support personnel will be able to do just that.”

“Since November, we have opened new stations in Rogersville, Florenceville-Bristol and Cap-Pelé,” added Mr. Stephen. “Grand Openings will be taking place at our new stations in Boiestown and Belledune in the upcoming weeks, while construction is underway in Tracadie-Sheila, Stanley, Fords Mills and Kingston.”
 
“I am very proud to see first-hand the excellent work being done by Ambulance New Brunswick,” Minister Schryer said. “Let there be no doubt, New Brunswickers have access to some of the best-trained, most dedicated paramedics, dispatchers, flight nurses and support services personnel in the country. The progress made by Ambulance New Brunswick since its creation in December 2007 is remarkable and the government of New Brunswick fully supports ANB as they continue to develop a world-class system.”

The new fleet centre, regional office and paramedic quarters in Fredericton is 10,700 square feet in size, has 6 bays on the fleet side and 3 bays on the paramedic side. A generator will provide power for the entire building during a power failure. The building is an insulated concrete forms (ICF) construction and is resistant to hurricane-force winds and seismic loads. It also has in-floor heating. Furthermore, the exhaust system in the garage is ultra modern as it removes both vehicle exhaust fumes and garage humidity automatically. The garage also has an NO2 detector system which will make an audible alarm warning if exhaust fumes get too high.

“We are very pleased that Ambulance New Brunswick decided to build such an important piece of infrastructure here in Fredericton-North,” said Mr. Woodside. “It’s a tremendous asset to our municipality and the surrounding area.”

Ambulance New Brunswick was created by the Government of New Brunswick in December 2007 to deliver a world-class land, air and emergency dispatch ambulance service throughout the province. Today, Ambulance New Brunswick has more than 900 paramedics stationed across the province. Every year, they respond to more than 100,000 calls. The air ambulance service performs more than 700 emergency calls every year and flies nearly 600,000 kilometres transporting sick and injured patients to specialized hospital care across the Maritimes and as far as Toronto, London and Montreal.

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Media contact:
Sophie Cormier-Lalonde
External Communications Officer
Ambulance New Brunswick
506-872-6579
sophie.cormier-lalonde@smunbems.ca