Locating someone in a fire could be getting easier for our local fire department. The Huntsville Fire Fighters Association and the Port Sydney Fire Fighters Association are both looking to submit a grant application to the Royal Canadian Legion Ladies Auxiliaries Charitable Foundation for some cash to buy new equipment. The Huntsville association has its eye on a thermal imaging camera, which uses infrared radiation to see people through heat, smoke or darkness. The Port Sydney association wants to purchase a medical transport unit.
The foundation hosts fundraisers throughout the year and some of the money raised is then donated to other non-profits. According to a Huntsville staff report, one of the organizations able to apply for a grant is a volunteer firefighters association to help buy equipment for the community. However, the two associations both need a letter of endorsement from the Town of Huntsville on their grant applications, because once the equipment is purchased it will be turned over to the town. The proposal is on Monday night’s council agenda for the town to consider.
Also on Monday’s council agenda is a motion to send a request to the province to dissolve Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare. The motion states council and the majority of the community have lost confidence in the leadership of MAHC, and it should be dissolved with the two hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge reverting back to separate entities.
If MAHC was dissolved, Huntsville Mayor Scott Aitchison says that won’t fix the issue of under-funding for the hospitals. He says the funding formula for medium-sized hospitals is unfair, and that won’t change if the hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge are split apart. But, he says there is still an upside which is that there will be a local board to fight for our hospital in the community.
Monday’s meeting gets underway ay 7:00pm in council chambers at town hall, and is open to the public.
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