Diane
Deans
Councillor, Gloucester-Southgate Ward, City of Ottawa
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110 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa ON
K1P 1J1 Tel. 613- 580-2480 Fax (613)
580-2520 E-Mail:
diane.deans@.ottawa.ca
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To : Anthony DiMonte, Chief of the Ottawa Paramedic
Service
Mayor
O’Brien and Members of City Council
From : Diane Deans, Chairperson of the
Community and Protective Services Committee
______________________________________________________________________________
Re: Ottawa Paramedic Service
Request for information for Community and Protective Services
Committee Members on the number of Code 4, level zero calls for service and the
Department’s recommendations to address them
In light of
information that I have received in my role as the Chairperson of the Community
and Protective Services Committee about the Ottawa Paramedic Service’s
challenges to address the volume of calls for assistance during the December
23, 2006 ice storm, I request that the Department provide CPSC members with a
month by month breakdown (2006) of the number of times the paramedic service
was at level zero (ie. there were no ambulances available).
Please
provide CPSC Members with a breakdown of the number of Code 4 calls (life threatening)
that were received when no ambulances were available, and how these calls were
handled. Along with this information,
please provide committee members with the Department’s recommendations on any
operational changes necessary to address this situation.
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M E M O / N O T E
D E S E R V I C E
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To / Destinataire
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Diane Deans, Chairperson of the CPS
Committee
Mayor
Members of
Council
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File/N° de
fichier: File Number
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From / Expéditeur
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Chief Anthony Di
Monte
Ottawa Paramedic Service
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Subject /
Objet
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REQUEST FOR
INFORMATION FOR THE COMMUNITY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMITTEE
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Date:
January 9, 2007
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I am in receipt of your memo dated January
8, 2007 and wish to provide the following preliminary information:
Situation
On Friday,
December 22, 2006 the City of Ottawa experienced freezing rain starting at 1400
hours ending 12 hours later. During
this ice storm, our normal emergency call volume increased by >50% until
after 2000 hours.
Ottawa Paramedic Service Response
Normal paramedic
staffing for both the day and night shifts had been increased for the Christmas
period. Requests for service began to
queue as all paramedic crews were committed to calls. Dispatch call assignment time increased from < 2 minutes to
> 5 minutes for the period of 1600 - 2000 hours. The protocols and procedures to respond to these types of
situations were immediately put in place and acted upon prior to level zero, to
mitigate impact to patient care.
Response Evaluation
Paramedics responded to a > 50%
increase in normal emergency call volume.
The majority of Paramedics remained on shift extension to address
waiting calls. Hospital wait times,
while continuing to be unacceptable, were not a contributing factor in this
particular instance. "Level
zero", the point at which there are no available resources to respond,
occurred several times during the 4 hour period. The weather triggered the substantial increase in call volume.
Conclusion
Significant and sustained increases in
call volume precipitated this event. As
directed, the Ottawa Paramedic Service will provide the supplemental
information that you requested in our 2006 Performance Report. This report will provide both Committee and
Council a complete overview of the system performance, its pressures and will
put the level zero report in operational context so that recommendations may be
brought forward for consideration.
Should you or
Members of Council have any questions or require further information please
feel free to contact my office.
Respectfully
yours,
Original signed by
A. Di Monte
cc: K.
Kirkpatrick, City Manager
S.
Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager, Community and Protective Services