Province injects funds to support EMS services in Nipissing District

Paramedic services in the District of Nipissing will get a financial boost from the province to improve access to emergency care.

Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli announced Tuesday the province is providing $6.9 million -- representing a two per cent increase in funding -- to connect people to emergency care faster and increase the availability of ambulances.

“The continued support is much needed and much appreciated,” said Stephen Kirk, chief of the District of Nipissing Paramedic Services.

The money is from the provincial's Land Ambulance Service Grant.

“As a government, we recognize the unique challenges that the Nipissing District Services Board faces while providing emergency health services across our region,” Fedeli said in a news release.

“This increase in base funding helps ensure our local ambulance services can address increased costs so they can continue to deliver high-quality emergency care.”

Mark King, chair of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board, said the total budget for paramedic services this fiscal year is $16.4 million. The extra funding will help with the challenges of overseeing an EMS service.

“We are challenged with a few things, specifically the distance and the number of partners that we actually service,” King said.

“I look at South Algonquin, Mattawa, and Temagami.”

The money will be used to offset increased costs. Kirk said statistics show an aging population translates to more 911 calls this year.

“This grant is used for all types of needs for the service, whether it be for the purchase of ambulances or enhanced service delivery and all of those are supported,” he said.

Last August, the government announced land ambulance service funding to municipalities would increase by an average of six per cent, bringing the total to more than $810 million.

To ensure urgent patients receive critical care sooner, the government is continuing to implement the medical priority dispatch system across the province.

Fedeli said the system helps to better prioritize and triage emergency medical calls and dispatch paramedics faster and more efficiently.

“Things like community paramedicine, these will help us extend the level of care we can provide in an outreach capacity,” Kirk said.

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Through the province’s learn and stay program, the first group of 12 paramedic students are currently completing placements with the local EMS as they look for permanent, full-time paramedic positions.

The province said there are currently more than 200 patient care models led by paramedic services across the province that provide appropriate and timely care options for eligible 911 patients in the community, instead of in the emergency department.

The government said it is helping more students become paramedics by adding more than 300 spaces in paramedic programs at colleges across Ontario.