County Takes Lead In Eastern Ontario 5 Year Paramedic Services Review

Jeff Green | Jan 11, 2023

The 2019 review of Paramedic Service needs throughout Eastern Ontario projected a 45% increase in call volume in the City of Kingston, and was the basis for plans for increases in the level of service offered by Frontenac Paramedics in the City. Frontenac Paramedics operate the ambulance service for Frontenac County and the City of Kingston. Among those increases in service, is a new 12 hour per day ambulance to supplement the service in the west end of Kingston, that is scheduled for implementation in. A new base has also been constructed at the Frontenac County administration site on Battersea Road, to service the east end of Kingston and Storrington District in South Frontenac.

In a report to Council at the December 21st Frontenac County Council meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender, noted that challenges have “materialised during the 3 years between 2020-2022.”

According to Pender, those challenges include: “Increases in paramedic service demand, more extensive hospital offload delay, longer patient transports, workload-related stress, including PTSD and mental-health related incidents, difficulties in recruiting and retaining paramedic staff, and service delivery costs which have escalated well beyond historical norms.”

In order to address these challenges, Frontenac County is taking the lead among member municipalities of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, in contracting with Apexpro, the company that prepared the 2019 report, to provide an update. Apexpro has offered to complete the update for $50,000, to be paid by the 12 member municipalities of the Wardens’ Caucus. The Frontenac County share is $4,163, plus hst.

Throughout 2022, members of OPSEU Local 462 carried out a public information campaign advocating for Frontenac County to increase paramedic services in the City of Kingston, because of increases in call volumes beyond the 2019 projections. Dave Doran, of Local 462, said that the increases in call volumes, in Kingston, has a negative impact on response times in Frontenac County, because ambulances stationed in bases in Parham and Robertsville are frequently redeployed closer to Kingston when Kingston based ambulances are all out on calls.

As well, Doran said, when ambulances from Robertsville, Parham and Sydenham travel to Kingston, they often remain there for the rest of their shift answering calls in the City.