New Renfrew County Paramedic base opens in Eganville, Ont.

A brand-new base for Renfrew County Paramedics was unveiled in Eganville Friday.

The base is located at the old O'Grady's Brothers garage on Highway 41 in Eganville, creating the seventh such base for paramedics in the region.

"This base represents really, the heart of the county," said Renfrew County Chief Paramedic Mike Nolan at Friday's grand opening.

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"It is centrally located. It gives us access to a lot of areas that have been historically underserved."

Nolan says the base will service an area of roughly 1500-square kilometres.

Previously, paramedics working in the Bonnechere Valley region had to operate out of the township's municipal office, sharing a garage with the local fire department.

"We were at a point where we didn't have the ability to keep the paramedic resources inside the base," Nolan says.

"Being in our municipal office wasn't ideal," adds Bonnechere Valley mayor Jennifer Murphy.

"For our fire department, it's lovely for them to have the proper space that they require. So, I think it's a win-win."

The new paramedic base now has four bay doors and can house three ambulances and a paramedic SUV.

The building has also been renovated to offer paramedics a full kitchen, lounge, bathroom, locker, and quiet room areas.

John Greene has been a paramedic in Renfrew County for 22 years and is looking forward to having a dedicated space for the service.

"I don't think it's going to get any easier," he says of the service's increasing workload, "but it is nice to come back to this space after doing a lot of calls."

The base also allows for easier access to highways 60, 41, and 512, which are major routes in the immediate region.

"You're not really fighting with traffic to get on the Highway 60," Greene says, compared to the municipal office. "So, it does allow you to get a quicker response down the highway."

Notably, Renfrew County Paramedics will also operate a Virtual Triage and Assessment Centre out of the new base, the fifth of its kind in the county.

Known as RC VTAC, the centre will be a health care service available to those in the community without a family doctor.

Residents will be able to contact RC VTAC with health concerns and if needed, attend the centre to receive in person care.

"If that assessment needs to be completed in person, the community paramedics now have two clinical offices here where you can be invited at a specific time to finish your assessment and be able to get all of the services you need in the same day," says Nolan.

Other RC VTAC locations in Renfrew County are found in Arnprior, Renfrew, Pembroke, and Petawawa.

Residents are able to contact RC VTAC at 1-844-727-6404 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Former garage and auto shop owners Pat and Helen O'Grady were also on hand at Friday's unveiling.

They tell CTV News selling the building to become the paramedic base it is now was the right choice.

"We needed this. It's here now, and we're all going to benefit from it."