The provincial government has announced an investment of over $26 million in Windsor and Essex County to speed up emergency care and increase ambulance availability.
In Windsor and Essex County, the province is increasing land ambulance funding by eight per cent, bringing the province's total investment in the region to $25,291,411 this year.
The increase in base funding will help ensure municipalities address increased costs so they can continue to deliver high-quality emergency care.
In addition, to further reduce delays paramedics encounter when dropping patients off at a hospital, Ontario is investing $1,123,937 for Windsor Regional Hospital through the Dedicated Offload Nurses Program.
That will allow the hospital to hire more nurses, and other eligible health professionals, dedicated to offloading ambulance patients in hospital emergency departments.
The program allows paramedics to get back out into the community quicker and respond to their next 9-1-1 call sooner.
Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie say it has played a significant role in reducing ambulance offload times and increasing ambulance availability for 9-1-1 patients across the province.
This funding is a consolidation of two grants approved by the Ministry of Health, and Dowie says it's the culmination of a lot of discussions over the last few years to improve the local situation.
"There's been a lot of collaboration that's been happening between Essex County, Windsor Regional Hospital, and certainly us as provincial officials to get the regulatory side down pat and getting approval for some of these programs," he said.
Offload time at WRH has been reduced by more than 50 per cent since its peak in October 2022, and Dowie says in terms of code blacks the situation is looking much better moving forward.
"Earlier this year EMS chief Lammers had reported to County Council that they are expecting a 71 per cent drop in code blacks for the coming year based on the trends they're already seeing. It's been nice to see that sincere effort and collaboration to improve the service for all."
The funding is also coming at a time when students are returning to school and many people are back from summer holidays.
"We want to make sure that the service is there to support them because we all need to go to work, we all need to go to school and do our daily business. And sometimes things happen and we're going to need that help from our first responders, that's why supporting them is essential to make sure that they're there to help us when we need their help," Dowie said.
The province is also continuing to implement the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) across Ontario, to ensure urgent patients receive critical care sooner.
Officials say the system helps to better prioritize and triage emergency medical calls and dispatch paramedics sooner.
