- pre-budget approval given to order 42 stretchers -
by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative
Essex County Council received and approved the 2025 Land Ambulance Response Time Performance Plan for Essex-Windsor EMS during the September 18 meeting.
The report highlighted that in 2024, EWEMS will likely not meet response times for Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) 1 – where there is a threat to life or limb and imminent risk of deterioration – and CTAS 2 – where there is potential threat to life, limb, or function requiring rapid medical interventions.
Improvements – or at the very least no regression – are, however, noted from 2023, Justin Lammers, Essex-Windsor EMS Chief, told County Council.
“These advancements are due to efforts, such as reduced off-load delays at hospitals, ambulance service enhancements, and innovative initiatives – like community paramedicine and the Community Assessment Triage Team,” Lammers said.
“Despite these positive trends, challenges are anticipated as flu season approaches, which historically strain both EMS and the healthcare system as a whole.”
At this time, Essex-Windsor EMS was not requesting changes to the current response time targets, and recommended that the current response time targets remain.
This annual report is required under the Ambulance Act, requiring the County of Essex to set target times for urgent responses, categorized by the CTAS, which sets six and eight-minute response times for Sudden Cardiac Arrest and CTAS 1 patients, respectively.
CTAS 2-5 are determined locally.
In it, EWEMS is to respond to:
• Sudden Cardiac Arrests in six-minutes 55% of the time. It reached 59%.
• CTAS 1 in eight-minutes 75% of the time. It reached 70%, which was up 1% from 2023.
• CTAS 2 in 10-minutes 90% of the time. It reached 82%, up 2% from 2023.
• CTAS 3 in 12-minutes 90% of the time. It reached 91%, up from 88% last year.
• CTAS 4 in 14-minutes 90% of the time. It reached 94%, up 2% from 2023.
• CTAS 5 in 14-minutes 90% of the time. It reached 94%, up 1% from last year.
The Report to County Council noted that this year’s response time data was taken up to September 10 of this year.
Any changes to deployment are benchmarked based on the set targets and historical performance, while remaining open to adjustments as the service evolves.
Efforts to strategize with hospital leadership to reduce off-load delays are ongoing, Lammers added.
The 2024 EMS Master Plan will be finalized in November, Lammers noted. This document will include optimal deployment strategies in both resource allocation and future expansion, it notes in the Report to County Council.
Additional priorities will include expanding the Community Assessment Triage Team (CATT) team, ongoing paramedic recruitment, collaborating with St. Clair College to support paramedic education, and improving workplace morale.
In Answering Tecumseh Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti’s question on CTAS 2 being a challenging area and things that can be done in strategizing with health system partners to leverage alternate models of care, Lammers noted CTAS 3-5 are typically low acuity response. EMS does try to work with partners and hospitals to divert from the emergency department.
CTAS 2 would never be diverted from the emergency department, CTAS 4 and 5 are areas focused on where they can be diverted and not necessarily taking up a bed at the hospital.
“That is what our Community Assessment Triage Team does successfully, about a 60% deferral rate.”
Bachetti asked if urgent care clinics were open later if CTAS 4 and 5 patients could use those clinics on their own, allowing ambulances to be available for CTAS 1 and 2 cases.
Lammers noted that members of the public being responsible about using 911 only when it is an emergency and getting to an urgent care clinic on their own would be of benefit. So too would be if ambulances could transport to an urgent care clinic once 911 is called. This, however, is a small number of calls, he added, compared to the CTAS 1-3.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy liked keeping the response targets the same, so data can be easier compared from one year to the next.
In addition, County Council provided 2025 pre-budget stretcher procurement approval to proceed with the ordering of 42 PowerPro XT stretchers, for $1,336,482.
Of that total, $1,073,934 will be funded from EMS equipment reserves. In addition, $262,548 will be funded through the 2025 Budget, around half of which the City of Windsor will cover.
Lammers noted they will reach the end of their life-cycle by then end of next year.
These stretchers – along with the Striker PowerPro system – aids in the safe loading and unloading for both patients and paramedics, Lammers explained.
Essex-Windsor EMS currently operates a fleet of 42 ambulances, all equipped with Stryker PowerPro XT Stretchers.
He recommended pre-ordering the PowerPro XT, remaining with the current equipment EMS has, as they are slated to be discontinued. Ordering the newer model would cost an additional $310,658.
CAO Sandra Zwiers noted that Pelee Island and the City also contribute to EMS reserves.
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