Costs lower than in other cities: Ont. agency

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/04/2015 (3853 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An independent review carried out by an Ontario agency concluded Winnipeg’s integrated paramedic/firefighter model resulted in substantially lower costs for both services.

But ambulance calls had the worst response times and fire response times were in the middle of the pack.

The Ontario Municipal CAOs’ Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI) is an annual comparison of services offered by a number of municipalities. While the OMBI review concentrates on Ontario municipalities, data from Winnipeg and Calgary are included in some of the comparisons.

OMBI’s most recent report is for 2013. For EMS services, OMBI found that in a review of 13 municipalities, Winnipeg’s ambulance cost ($126 per hour) was substantially lower than any other community — the next lowest was the Niagara Region, at $167 per hour; Ottawa’s per hour cost was $236; and Toronto’s, $247.

For EMS response times, Winnipeg finished last. When analyzing how quickly municipal EMS services responded to cardiac arrest and medical emergencies, Winnipeg’s ambulance arrived within eight minutes 64 per cent of the time. The next slowest time was Toronto, at 70.3 per cent.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Chief John Lane said the OMBI analysis for EMS response time only deals with ambulance response, not paramedics.

“In Winnipeg, the first paramedic to arrive at emergency medical calls are often on board fire apparatus, but this is not included in this (OMBI) figure,” Lane said.

Lane said the better measure is OMBI’s comparison of what percentage of time a person equipped with a defibrillator arrives on scene within six minutes of being dispatched to deal with a cardiac arrest. Lane said, in that analysis, Winnipeg had the fourth-best result among 13 municipalities.

The survey found Winnipeg’s fire hourly costs was second-lowest in the country, at $246. When examining how often fire vehicles were able to respond to a fire call, Winnipeg’s fire trucks clocked in at 6:49, slower than four communities, but faster than four others.