Duane Hicks
Rainy River District EMS paramedics continue to sport response times above provincial target numbers.
With nearly all types of calls in 2016, the local EMS exceeded the target percentage for responding to calls under the target time.
For example, EMS responded to 63.04 percent of Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale 1 (i.e., major shock) calls in less than eight minutes.
The target percentage set by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care was 60 percent.
They responded to 74.51 percent of CTAS 2 emergent care calls (i.e., chest pain) in less than 10 minutes, with the target being 65 percent.
Meanwhile, EMS responded to 77.15 percent of CTAS 3 urgent care calls (i.e., mild asthma) and 88.86 percent of CTAS 4 less-urgent care calls (i.e., ear ache) in less than 15 minutes, with the target being 65 percent for both tiers.
And EMS responded to 89.24 percent of CTAS 5 non-urgent care calls (i.e., sore throat) in less than 30 minutes, far above the 75 percent target.
The only area where they did not quite meet the target was sudden cardiac arrest calls (i.e., not breathing, no pulse).
EMS responded to 30.77 percent of sudden cardiac arrest calls in less than six minutes.
The target percentage set by the ministry was 45 percent.
The distance paramedics had to travel for some of the calls prevented them from always meeting or exceeding the target response time.
The information was presented during the annual general meeting of the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, which was held last Thursday at the Copper River Inn.
The agenda also included the board approving the 2016 audited financial statements and annual reports.
In his report, DSSAB chair Ken Perry, who also is a Fort Frances councillor, said his first year in the role was “eye-opening.”
Coun. Perry noted he attended the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association meeting in Hamilton last year and was awoken “to the vast issues public housing is facing in Ontario.”
He also was among the group of administration and board members who attended the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association’s annual general meeting last year.
“It is interesting to note that we say that one size does not fit all in Ontario, or indeed the north, but we all share the most pressing common problems,” Coun. Perry said.
“Funding, or more specifically the lack of funding, is our universal problem,” he noted.
“Many of the common difficulties that we face are housing dollars that are stuck in 2002, no response to non-urgent patient transfer funding, which plagues each of us to different degrees, distances between centres of need, and the lack of services in more remote areas, municipalities, and First Nations’ communities alike.”
More generally speaking, DSSAB’s “pocket” (affordable) housing initiative which began in 2015 “continues to move forward slowly towards a fruitful conclusion,” Coun. Perry added.
“We have our challenges in this and other endeavours, but together we will overcome the uphill battles and solve the problems that we face,” he pledged.
“We will also continue to enjoy the accomplishments.
“Although not always working in harmony, the board muddles through the mess and normally comes to agreement on issues,” Coun. Perry noted.
“It may not always be unanimous but mostly sound decisions.”
Coun. Perry also welcomed Jennifer Johnson from Alberton as a new addition to the board.
Johnson “jumped right into the fray and became one of the mix during the last half of [2016],” he said.
Meanwhile, the local DSSAB saw several new initiatives start in 2016.
Funding for the Investment in Affordable Housing (IAH) was amalgamated for the district to provide the opportunity to build an eight-plex apartment building in Fort Frances, DSSAB CAO Dan McCormick noted in his report.
Form Architects were contracted to prepare drawings and oversee the construction of the building, which will be built at 1301 Elizabeth St. E. and 1300 Fifth St. E.
Ontario Works assisted in the study on the proposal to trial Basic Income Support within the province.
Paramedic services re-established the Community Paramedicine Program, which lapsed briefly due to a delay in funding from the province.
Management and staff also participated in numerous consultations throughout 2016, McCormick said.
“All ministries continue to seek ways to deliver services in a more cost-effective way, improve client services, and continue to improve system design and work flow,” he remarked.
McCormick added several new funding initiatives are anticipated for 2017 based on the consultations.
In October, the DSSAB’s assisted living at Green Manor and Rose Manor here reached capacity at 12 clients.
There is wait list of 15 individuals (six of whom currently are residing on-site).
Riverside’s assisted living staff are providing roughly 90 visits per month per person on program-care plans, and tasks performed for each client are varied based on their needs and limitations.
Assisted living staff are physically on-site about 11 hours per day.
