The District of Rainy River Services Board (DRRSB) is once more receiving critical funding to help keep ambulances and community medicine in service in the Rainy River District.
Speaking at the Fort Frances Ambulance Bay on Thursday, September 14, 2023, Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford announced nearly $5.4-million in funding for the DRRSB’s Land Ambulance Service Grant (LASG). The DRRSB, formerly the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board (RRDSSAB), operates the Rainy River District Paramedic Services which covers the approximate 15,000 square kilometres of the Rainy River District, according to the DRRSB website.
At the announcement, Rickford reiterated his support for first responders, calling them “in no uncertain terms the lifeline to health and safety… of our people.”
“Today through the Land Ambulance Service Grant that we’ve increased by 14 percent province wide, announcing $5.4-million to support land ambulance services here across the Rainy River District.”
Rickford also noted the importance of supporting community paramedicine through the grant funding, remarking that the move to proactive services to community members is a net benefit that helps people stay in their homes for longer since they can access healthcare in that fashion.
“The resources required to support that growth and expansion are absolutely critical,” Rickford said.
“Those services that they provide from these resources are keeping people in there homes longer, where they want to be. They are reducing the pressures on our emergency rooms and our hospital beds uptake.”
Outgoing DRRSB CAO Dan McCormick was on hand during the announcement and shared his thanks for the funding and work that the MPP has done on behalf of the district, noting that without the provincial funding for the LASG, the organization would not be able to deliver the services they currently do. McCormick elaborated on that in comments made after the announcement, stressing that the funding is critical in nature. The money itself is
“We couldn’t operate without the funding,” McCormick said.
“We’re getting $5.4-million here from the province… and that grnt is partly made up of three parts for us. We get a portion of funding 100 percent for townships without municipal organization, or the unincorporated area. We get funding for First Nations, we serve nine First Nations communities, so there’s 100 percent funding for that. What they do is they take the total budget, they deduct 100 percent funding, and then we split the rest of the costs 50/50 between the municipal share and the province. So this is an ongoing commitment that basically keeps the wheels on the ambulances turning… like we said, we’re getting $5.4-million here from the province and thats the 50/50 and 100 percent funding. So the municipalities are putting in $2.5-million. So when you think if you put that $5-million as a burden on the taxpayers, we’d be pretty broke.”
McCormick noted that the funding covers the entire operation, covers staffing, they are rolling some funding into our base funding for [community paramedicine], they’ve realized what a valuable program that is across the district.
Rickford, himself a former nurse, noted that the ongoing funding is aimed to ensure frontline workers have the resources necessary not just for emergency situation in the ambulance, but also to continue to offer the community paramedicine piece both he and McCormick had previously mentioned during the announcement.
“These are not just paramedics providing emergency response, they are now going out into the community proactively through the community paramedicine program, and that’s greatly reducing the pressures on the hospitals, whether it’s the emergency room or stays as a result of some complication,” he said.
“As Dan said, through the services board, without this funding and the province’s decision to increase by some 14 percent in the last fiscal year, these guys can’t operate at the levels that they currently do.We’re tremendously grateful for their services, and we have to back that up with the resources for them to be able to provide it.”
He also noted that the DRRSB and ambulance staff have historically been very efficient with funding provided through the government, putting it “to good use,” which in recent years has included community paramedicine, what Rickford said was in some respects a replacement of traditional homecare.
“As the skill sets of paramedics expand, we want to be able to expand with them,” he said.
“And that requires the kind of resources, the $5.4-million in allocations to do their work.”
Fort Frances mayor Andrew Hallikas was also in attendance at the meeting, and thanked Rickford on behalf of the town, and additionally in his capacity as the vice-chair of the DRRSB, for the funding which will allow paramedics to continue to provide their services across the district..
