Sarnia-area ambulance changes aim to improve response times

Changes coming to Lambton County’s ambulance service are expected to improve response times, particularly in the southeast, and ease paramedics’ workloads.

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The changes in Lambton’s ambulance deployment plan, approved by county council this week, include allowing Lambton Emergency Medical Services to hold low urgency calls for up to 30 minutes when there are heavy loads on the system.

“During periods of high demand, some non-emergent calls may experience longer wait times for an ambulance, but we expect these to be limited,” manager Stephen Turner told council.

Lambton has ambulance stations in Sarnia, Bright’s Grove, Brigden, Corunna, Forest, Grand Bend, Petrolia, Thedford and Watford.

Turner said 12 ambulances on the road at peak times and an up to 30-minute hold on lower urgency calls will be an option when three or fewer units are available.

“Emergent calls typically involve potential threat to life or limb, such as chest pain or unconsciousness, shortness of breath or vehicle collisions,” Turner said. “Non-emergent calls may include complaints such as minor orthopedic injuries or general illness.”

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Non-emergency calls also may be held temporarily, or assigned to an ambulance farther afield, to allow for shift changes and restocking of ambulances.

The department will monitor the impact and anticipate public concern about delays, Turner said.

“But it’s important for us to be able to manage call demand at times when our system is pressured, and to ensure that resources are available for those emerging calls that may require a more immediate response,” he said.

Several other changes are being made after hearing from politicians, the public and paramedics “that we had room for improvement,” Turner said.

“While Lambton EMS continues to meet the council-approved response time targets, response times have been slowing in most areas of the county,” with particular areas of concern in Brooke-Alvinston and Dawn-Euphemia and Warwick townships, he said.

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Workdays for paramedics have become busier in large part because of “frequent relocations to other areas of the county to provide Code 8 or standby coverage,” for stations where ambulances are busy, Turner said.

Brigden, Bright’s Grove and Watford cover most standby assignments, most frequently to Sarnia, Petrolia and Corunna, he said.

New standby zones, and adjusting where units are sent on those assignments, aim to improve response times, particularly in Lambton’s southeastern municipalities.

“Anything you can do to improve our response times is definitely a bonus to us,” said Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Alan Broad.

Turner said “more efficient use of standbys” also should reduce ambulance wear and tear, greenhouse gas emissions, fuel costs and crew fatigue.

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“Without changes to our deployment or our staffing, the number of times that no ambulance is available when somebody calls 911 is anticipated to increase fourfold over the next five years,” he said.

The plan update also allows pausing ambulance services when travel isn’t safe because of extreme weather.

“On the rare occasions when the road conditions have deteriorated to the point where they are not safe or liable, we will pause operations in that area until conditions have improved” or a snowplow escort is available, Turner said.

“Our crews can’t help others if they can’t get there safely,” he said.

The service will also be able to delay non-emergency transfers between hospitals and other facilities when only three or fewer ambulances are available.

“These are rare occurrences and supervisors will work with hospital staff to identify any patients who may need to be transferred out sooner,” Turner said.

Out-of-county patient transfers will also be limited to one at a time.

“We’ve met with senior leadership at Bluewater Health to review these changes and to confirm that they do not have any major concerns,” Turner said.

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