THUNDER BAY – The emergency call for reinforcements from paramedics has been answered by Thunder Bay city council.
Funding for Superior North EMS add an additional 12-hour crew to run every day beginning July 1 was unanimously approved by council at their Monday night meeting.
The paramedic service has been overwhelmed by escalating 911 calls, going from 21,000 per year in 2011 to projections exceeding 28,000 this year.
Wayne Gates, chief of Superior North EMS, said the last expansion to the number of ambulances on the road came in 2012.
“Society has changed its view on when to call 911 now. We’re seeing a lot of 911 calls where 20, 30 years ago people didn’t call an ambulance,” Gates said. “They did whatever they could to get to the hospital. We’re seeing a change in culture with millennials and other age groups where they tend to call 911 more often.”
Gates said the city's aging population is also a likely factor behind the spike. While intoxication and overdose calls have driven up numbers in previous years, those incidences are trending downward so far in 2017, Gates added.
Starting in April, Superior North EMS began using a new deployment model that has a minimum of five ambulances on duty during times of low call volume and a maximum of eight during peak call volumes. The strategy also involved the reduction of non-urgent patient transfers, which have since decreased by 63 per cent.
There were 60 code black occurrences where an ambulance was not available during the first two months since the new deployment model was launched. Those occurrences – nearly one per day during April and May – averaged 20 minutes with 11 lasting longer than 30 minutes.
“Very few of our calls are down to getting there in seconds. The real important ones are people having heart attacks and having strokes,” Gates said.
“We have some minutes with them but in this day and age, my paramedics starting next month are going to be talking directly to a cardiologist when there’s a heart attack. They’ll be going straight to the (catheterization) lab, they won’t be going to (the emergency room) anymore. Those people are the people we really make a difference and the same thing with patients having strokes.”
The operating costs of the additional crew for the second half of the year were pegged at $315,000, which will amount to a cost of $252,000 to the city after factoring in the 20 per cent charged to surrounding municipalities who also utilize the paramedic service.
The extra ambulance in Thunder Bay will likely be a benefit to the surrounding area.
“Currently with the call demand we’re seeing the Shuniah units and the Conmee units are being drawn into the city more often leaving their areas uncovered,” Gates said.
“This makes those resources more available to them as well.”
Coun. Andrew Foulds said he was concerned about the challenges of the job and the toll it can take on the paramedics’ mental health.
“I think that it is the least we can do to support this resolution,” Foulds said. “I don’t think it’s going to solve the problem but I think it’s one step in the right direction.”
