A new agreement between Perth County paramedics and area fire departments will see more data being shared, and hopefully faster response times.
The MOU for 2023 introduces new protocols with increased collaboration between departments.
At yesterday’s Perth County Council meeting, council received the final report from the Perth County Paramedic Services (PCPS) for 2022.
One of the items of note in the year-end report was the response times of ambulance calls. In 2022, PCPS met the targets for the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale 1-5, but not the Sudden Cardiac Arrest – the two metrics used for monitoring response times.
The report explains that there are contributing factors that influence the PCPS’ performance. Having access to fire department data may have an impact on the Sudden Cardiac Arrest shortfall.
In light of this, the county has entered into an amended memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the PCPS and the various fire departments across the County, which includes sharing data with those fire departments.
Since 2021, the PCPS and fire departments have worked together in what’s called a “tiered response program,” coming to an understanding on which organization attends an emergency depending on the emergency.
This agreement, or MOU, is to be reviewed each term of Council by all agencies.
The new protocols include that fire services are to respond to non-emergency calls without lights and sirens, exceptions to the tiered response (particularly in long-term care facilities with sufficiently trained staff), steps to be taken if an ambulance is delayed in Stratford, cost-saving and standardization through joint purchasing of medical supplies, PCPS support to Fire Services in rehabilitation functions during a fire call, a commitment to discuss joint training as needed, and data sharing for better performance analysis,.
“There are not a lot of changes in this from historically what we’ve been doing, post-COVID,” PCPS Chief Michael Adair told council. “But there are some things that are focused on efficiencies … If long term care facilities have sufficiently-trained staff, then our fire services aren't responding with sirens to any calls at that location, because they already have staff providing that level of service. It makes sense.”
Council voted to execute the new MOU. Adair indicated that it goes to the Ministry of Health Emergency Services for approval. In terms of timeline, Adair insisted that it will be implemented before the end of the year.
Adair wrote in a preliminary message to the report that 2022 was the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the PCPS rose to the occasion.
“Our response, without fail, continues to meet the ever-shifting need of our community,” Adair’s message read. “Whether we are supporting those living with COVID-19 in the community, providing vaccines, responding to a tragic accident, helping persons on a long-term Care waitlist, supporting the health of individuals requiring care in the community, or saving a life, we continue to do so with compassion and grace.”
Adair thanked all the staff of the PCPS for their selfless service.
