By Cecilia Nasmith

At Monday's Northumberland County Community Health Committee meeting, Northumberland Paramedics Chief Susan Brown recommended the donation of one of their surplus ambulances to an organization that will help them offer a new service within the county.

Gift from the Heart is a nonprofit Canadian charity that requested the ambulance and, at the same time, expressed an interest in partnering with the paramedics to offer oral-health-care services in conjunction with wellness visits.

Oral health exams are invaluable forecasting tools, Brown said – not just screening for oral cancer but for predictors of potential future cardiac problems.

With a surplus ambulance outfitted by Gift from the Heart, she continued, they can take these services to shelters and warming areas to offer these important services on-site.

“It's hard to set up shop and ask people to come to them with transportation challenges,” Brown said.

“This brings the service where they are, and there's one less barrier for these people to receive this type of service.”

Brown expects three ambulances to come up as “surplus” this year, which is the designation given to ambulances that are five years old or have gone 250,000 km. The alternative is to submit such vehicles to auction for a few thousand dollars, she said, but there is a 50% clawback of these proceeds by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.