Ottawa invests in Manitoba firm’s ambulance van

A made-in-Manitoba ambulance van is nearly ready for market, but Manitobans are unlikely to be the first patients to use them.

That’s owing to provincial regulations that MoveMobility founder Richard Jones hopes will be lifted.

“Not to say that we won’t build one for Manitoba, we just have a few challenges,” he said Friday after a news conference in which the federal government announced a $1.1-million investment in his company.

“My message is, please, come on the ride with us in Manitoba. Come on the journey with us and support this type of product. It will save more lives, it’s easier to run, it’s cheaper for the taxpayer.”

MoveMobility, which has been retrofitting vans and mini-vans to make them wheelchair-accessible since 2007, has applied a similar process to create the custom ambulances, which are in the final testing phase.

Jones, who emigrated from England with his family shortly before launching his company, said his vans are based on similar vehicles used in the United Kingdom.

They are smaller than the Type 3 ambulances that are standard in Manitoba, which has led to some difficulty in getting them approved in the province. However, Jones said they offer a more comfortable ride and can be produced at roughly 60 per cent of the cost.

He intends to launch them for sale in Ontario next year, once a new MoveMobility manufacturing facility in CentrePort Canada opens in the spring.

Winnipeg West Liberal MP Dr. Doug Eyolfson said his government’s investment will help MoveMobility expand its manufacturing capacity, scale up production and create jobs in Manitoba.

The former emergency room doctor who became a politician described the vans as “nimble, manoeuvreable, emergency vehicles built on van platforms, designed for communities where every second counts.”

“I spent a great deal of time in the backs of ambulances and I have come to appreciate firsthand how valuable vehicles like this are for many of these remote and northern communities,” he said.

Jamie Moses, Manitoba’s business minister — whose government provided $1.3 million last year to support the construction of MoveMobility’s incoming CentrePort facility — said the federal money will help the company “continue to grow and put their footprints across the country.”

The money is in the form of a repayable loan package from PrairiesCan that also included $1.9 million for QDoc Inc.

The Manitoba-based health-care company will use the money to scale up its ability to provide virtual medical care to people in remote regions, said co-founder and chief technology officer David Berkowitz.

In a news release, the federal government said both companies are “redefining how care reaches Canadians.”

The investments are expected to create up to 35 jobs, the release said.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca