After 66 years, the phone has gone silent at this family ambulance business
Ken Broughton has taken his last call as a private ambulance operator around Conception Bay, as his longtime family business folded into the public system at the end of last week.
The Broughton name has been synonymous with ambulance services in the Brigus region since its humble beginnings, when a black station wagon doubled as an ambulance and a hearse in 1958.
But now the lifesaving service has folded, and only the funeral side of Broughton's Ambulance Service remains.
"The phone, my dear, would never stop day and night," Broughton told Krissy Holmes, host of CBC Radio's On The Go, on Thursday. "At least now that the government has it taken over, I can get a good night's sleep."
More than 60 ambulance services were absorbed into the public system this past Monday. Broughton said all his employees were hired by the province and will continue to serve the region — just without him involved.
Broughton took over the business from his father, who started it in 1958. Broughton wasn't just the owner; he was also an emergency medical responder who had dealt with plenty of tragedy throughout a small region where most people know each other by name.
"I've seen it all, yeah. I dealt with a bad fire situation here in Brigus back years ago. I've dealt with shootings, hangings, suicides, drownings. I've dealt with all of that with families."
The service became more and more hectic over the years, he said, with calls often taking them outside their usual coverage area. The business grew to include 14 employees.
Broughton said he would have run it for another couple of years but the end was inevitable.
The province's health accord set a goal to bring all ambulance services — road and air — under one umbrella managed by the public system to ensure consistent standards of service, wages and benefits across the entire province.
Under the new system, people who need an ambulance are asked to call 911 instead of the numbers used by the former operators.
Broughton said he's heard from community members who are upset by the change. Plenty thanked the Broughton family for its services over the years, he said.
He wanted to emphasize that the funeral business is still in operation.
"How's business going?" he was asked by Holmes.
"Dead," Broughton said with a laugh.
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