$6.5M Investment in County Paramedicine

Jeff Green | Feb 24, 2021

It was almost 10 years ago when Mike Nolan, Chief of Paramedic Services in Renfrew County, was invited by then Frontenac Paramedic Services Chief Paul Charbonneau, to make a presentation to Frontenac County Council about community paramedicine.

Nolan’s talk about an entirely new way for paramedics to provide services that are designed to avoid the necessity for the traditional role of paramedics, to respond to a medical crisis.

Frontenac County Council eventually started up their own small paramedicine service with a pilot project on Wolfe Island, a wellness clinic, and the service has grown since them. It is funded with a combination of municipal dollars and provincial grant money.

Gale Chevalier, the current Chief of Frontenac Paramedics was at that meeting.

“It seemed like a farfetched idea at first. Mike Nolan has been a real leader in developing the program and we are fortunate that Frontenac County Council made the commitment to being it to our service,” Chief Chevlier said in a phone interview this week

“Frontenac Paramedics has provided community paramedicine wellness clinics to residents of Frontenac County and Kingston since 2014 and have been integral in helping with our community’s response to COVID-19.,” she added. “We’re all very proud of the difference the program has made in the community to date but we could see very clearly that, with the right resources, there is more work we could do to help people stay safely in their homes longer.”

Over the last 12 months, Frontenac Paramedics have been providing support in the community response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing expertise at the testing centre in Kingston, and providing tests in resident homes as well. Paramedic have also played a key role in the vaccine roll-out in long term care facilities.

In December Frontenac Paramedics submitted an application to the Ministry of Health to set up a new Community Paramedicine program to serve a specific population, people who are “on the wait list for long-term care, those who are eligible for long-term care, or those soon to be eligible for long-term

care, by providing in-home care that stabilizes their illness or disease trajectory.

Last week, the provincial government announced a grant of $6.5 million, over four years, to Frontenac County for Frontenac County to target that specific population.

Community Paramedics will use the new funds to provide diagnostic procedures, assessments, testing, routine monitoring, and medical treatments in the comfort of people’s own homes. Paramedics will advise and assist patients with navigating the healthcare system. Services will be prompt and flexible, adapting a proactive response to each individual’s changing circumstances,” said a Frontenac County press release this week.

Chief Chevalier said that four full time Community Paramedics will be assigned to the new program, which will not have impact on any of the ambulance shifts that provide emergency service in Kingston and Frontenac County.

“With the increase, the community paramedicine program at Frontenac Paramedics is becoming an option for paramedics who are looking for a change from the stress and 12 hour shifts that are the reality for emergency service paramedics.

“Community Paramedicine provides a great career option for paramedics looking for a change, who do not want to go into management,” said Chavalier. “It can be a good way to extend careers and allow services like Frontenac Paramedics to continue to benefit from the experience of the people working with us,

“We anticipate that the program will expand and change over the 4 years, as we make sure we can provide the right care for this population. One of the benefits of community paramedics is that they are able to be flexible and respond to the needs of any given community.”