It's been a year full of positives and negatives for Essex-Windsor Emergency Service, according to Chief Bruce Krauter.
He tells AM800 News a new base on Dougal Ave. and 12 new fulltime paramedics and some new strategies have helped with offload delays.
"Diversion strategies where low acuity patients will be shared amongst all facilities across the region, that has seen some improvements with the offload delays, but we're staying vigilant on how we get our crews offloaded quickly so that they can respond," he says.
Offloading issues are a symptom of much bigger problems that Krauter says are being addressed in a Master Plan that will continue to be developed moving forward.
"Tackling some of the challenges that we have such as the aging population, the opioid issues, that's another one that we're working with public health and CMHA and our other partners," he says.
An online survey on the Essex County website and door to door canvasing are being used to gather data as part of a10-year Master plan.