Essex-Windsor EMS is above the provincial target when it comes to response times for calls involving sudden cardiac arrest, but the chief of the land ambulance service wants to see it much higher.
Provincial regulations have established a six-minute response time for patients suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, with land ambulance services expected to be above that target at least 55 percent of the time.
Essex-Windsor EMS hit the target 59 percent of the time in 2023 and, as of early September, is at that same level in 2024.
Chief Justin Lammers says it's a number he watches closely and it's a number he wants to see higher, but several factors play a part in response times.
"It comes down to ambulance availability; it comes down to paramedics being able to respond the minute the call comes in. The thing that effects that is, how many ambulances do we have on the road? What's the location of the ambulance when the call comes in? Obviously, it's difficult to predict where the next cardiac arrest is, but through dynamic deployment, we do our best to make sure we're covering off the best we can in that very moment," he says.
Lammers notes that when it comes to responding to a sudden cardiac arrest, the public plays a massive part in helping paramedics by recognizing the signs, beginning CPR, or finding and using a public access defibrilator.
He says there's a 10 percent decrease in survival rates for every minute that passes for someone suffering cardiac arrest.
"EMS can't do this alone. We need the support of the public. Proper utilization of the system. Proactive care in your own health and making good decisions to remain healthy," he says. "We're doing everything we can on our end, and we're going to continue to evaluate the system. We're going to continue to find any efficiencies we can to improve those response times, but we definitely can't do it alone.
In a report Wednesday to Essex County Council, EMS reported that while it had improved or maintained response times set out for two of the other most serious situations, considered threats to life or limb, it was still below the targets set out under the Canadian Triage Acuity Scale Levels.
However, the land ambulance service is meeting or exceeding the response times targets for three other less urgent categories.
The data is based on the Ambulance Dispatch Reporting System as a result of all 911 calls received by the Ontario Land Ambulance Dispatch system.