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West Nipissing has been served by a community paramedic for years now, but the paramedic was based in North Bay. Now, a community paramedic has “a permanent residence” in West Nipissing.
So explained Stephen Kirk, Paramedic Chief of the District of Nipissing Paramedic Services. These services are overseen by the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board.
“We have reduced a substantial amount of time travelling back and forth, and that gives us more opportunity for patient facing,” Kirk emphasized. Indeed, with less time on the road, more West Nipissing residents can receive help.
See: Local paramedic services now part of social services board
The community paramedicine program began in 2014. The purpose of the program is to provide safe in-home health care for those who can’t easily access services. For instance, a community paramedic could perform a wellness check, or administer a vaccination to someone who can’t leave the house easily.
It’s less expensive than sending an ambulance to the home, and the community paramedic can also help refer patients to other local services for support.
The 911 paramedics are still available, but the community paramedics “supplement home and community care,” Chief Kirk detailed. “Medication checks, blood pressure checks, standard of living,” are all under the community paramedic purview, and their house calls can reduce hospital visits or prevent hospital stays.
“The real goal behind this is really to keep people out of the hospital and at home,” Chief Kirk said, “and improve their quality of life.”
He mentioned that many lower acuity patients don’t require an urgent 911 response or transport to a hospital, “which frees up our ambulances for those urgent calls and it helps reduce congestion in the emergency department.”
In West Nipissing, two ambulances operate during the day, with one operating throughout the night. Within Nipissing district, there are eight full time community paramedics.
Clients are selected for the community paramedicine services based on referrals from the hospital, family doctors, nurse practitioners, or 911 paramedics following ambulance transports. For more information, reach out to the District of Nipissing Community Paramedicine Program at 705-474-5750 extension 55533.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
