Emergency medical service in St. Laurent is set to improve drastically. The ground will be broken on the site of the new ambulance base later this month. The new base will be located at the former municipal office site, next to the fire hall. Reeve Cheryl Smith says they're excited to see this project moving forward.

"It's going to be huge. It's going to mean people are getting better health services, obviously. It means that people can now expect the ambulance to be there a lot sooner than what it has been in the past."

Smith says the previous arrangements to have ambulances dispatched by other communities have led to long response times, and that's something that will improve with the construction of the new base.

"Before, when the ambulance was called they were coming from Stonewall or Lundar. Sometimes it would take, I would say, between 25, 30 minutes, maybe even 45 minutes, which is really unacceptable especially if you're going through a major health crisis."

A completion date for the base has yet to be set, and Smith expects to hear more when MLA Tom Nevakshonoff and Health Minister Sharon Blady attend the ground breaking ceremony on October 23rd.