Essex-Windsor EMS to hire part-time staff to help paramedics at hospital ERs

Essex County Council has approved funding to hire several assistants to help paramedics unloading patients at hospitals return to the road faster.

Council agreed on Wednesday to spend $67,000 to hire up to eight second-year paramedic students to fill the part-time positions in 2023 and will consider spending another $200,000 to keep the program going in 2024.

The offload assistants will be responsible for assisting paramedics in offloading patients and preparing ambulances to return to service, giving paramedics time to transition from one assignment to another.

According to officials, the benefits of the program to Essex-Windsor EMS, local hospitals, paramedic students and the community include:

• Providing hands-on experience for students, as well as familiarity with Essex-Windsor EMS;
• Giving paramedics much needed down time to regroup and refocus between calls;
• Providing another way to monitor the transfer of patients to hospital care when call volumes are high; and
• Decreasing pressure on EMS resources and putting ambulances back in service faster.

A report to council by Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter said ambulance response times are significantly affected when paramedics have to wait to unload patients at hospital emergency departments. https://coe-pub.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=23044

The chief’s report also calls for a review and refresh of the EMS Master Plan in 2024 at an estimated cost of $150,000.

The current plan recommends hiring an additional 24 paramedics in 2024 at an estimated cost of $2.5 million, a proposal that will be brought forward during the 2024 budget deliberations.

Mean time, a delegation from the County of Essex recently presented Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones with potential solutions to the ongoing issue of offload delays in Windsor-Essex.

Krauter, along with Warden Hilda MacDonald and CAO Sandra Zwiers spoke to Jones and Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Catherine Zahn at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference in London, in August.

They asked the minister to consider three measures that could reduce patient offloading delays.

Increased funding for primary and urgent care clinics with expanded hours.

Increased funding for physician recruitment.

Placement of a patient navigator in the Windsor Central Ambulance Communications Centre.

The group was told the minister is committed to continuing to work with the county to resolve the pressures on the health-care system and is engaged and knowledgeable about the issues.