The news this week that Cootamundra will get its long-awaited new ambulance station was music to the community’s ears.
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While announcements had been made for new stations in our region, including Harden, Coolamon, Ardlethan and Grenfell, as well as the brand new (and as yet not officially opened) ambulance station in Wagga, local paramedics would have been forgiven in thinking that the fund fairies had forgotten their desperately inadequate abode.
Even the ambulance vans had outgrown the building, despite the floor being lowered twice in an attempt to accommodate the vehicles.
The announcement on Monday from member for Cootamundra Katrina Hodgkinson that the 60-year-old building would be replaced by a new purpose-built station was met with applause.
What the announcement didn’t address was when, where, and how much.
The media release stated the Cootamundra and Cowra ambulance stations would be built as “part of the NSW Government’s $122 million Rural Ambulance Infrastructure Reconfiguration (RAIR) program”, but did not go any further.
It’s believed RAIR representatives will meet with the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council administrator Stephen Sykes in the coming weeks to work out a plan of attack for the new facility.
The media release said “planning for the new stations will commence shortly”.
A cynical view of this announcement is that it could be seen as a Band-Aid solution to appease those angry with the current government in a bid to stem the tide of anti-merger sentiment among our community.
Until real costings and timelines are put in place – if this current government is ousted at the next election in 2019 – this announcement could be nothing more than pie in the sky.
Let’s hope government sleight of hand and political pointscoring isn’t the case with this one, but, until the first sod is turned, we will just have to wait and see if the government will deliver on a much-needed facility in good time or if Cootamundra paramedics will have to endure another few years of living in squalor.
Not to mention our other dedicated emergency services personnel, with Fire and Rescue NSW Cootamundra station captain Les Carr calling for a hub to house Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance and the State Emergency Service.