Simcoe County wants better response times for cardiac patients

Tiny Township deputy mayor Steffen Walma wants more effort put into saving people having heart attacks in the county.

During Simcoe County’s Oct. 27 committee meeting, he learned the target is to get a defibrillator to a patient within six minutes. That target applies to police, fire and paramedics — whoever is first on the scene.

And Simcoe County emergency responders are 56 per cent of the time. The results came from the annual Paramedic Services Response Time Performance report.

“Heart and Stroke mentions every minute you’re delayed is a 70- to 10-per-cent decrease in survival,” Walma said. “We’re doing well, but there’s always room for improvement.”

He suggested the county aim for a higher goal and work with municipal partners, such as fire and police, to make it happen.

Walma inquired about a pilot project to use drones to fly defibrillators to people in more remote parts of the county, which was approved last year.

“Given our support of the community during the COVID response, we weren’t as far ahead on this pilot project as we would’ve hoped,” said paramedic Chief Andrew Robert.

He noted the county is still looking into hiring a private company to do it, which is being tested in Peel Region, versus the county running the program itself.

“We’re also looking at use of a software tool to alert members of the community if there is a cardiac arrest in their area,” Robert said.

During the discussion, Adjala-Tosorontio deputy mayor Bob Meadows voiced his concerns about setting a new target.

“I’d hate to have an unrealistic goal,” Meadows said. “To me, it’s an impressive time considering the area that has to be covered. I’d hate to put extra pressure on paramedics.”

Oro-Medonte deputy mayor Ralph Hough said the focus should be improving service to the rural areas, not just Barrie and Orillia.

Jane Sinclair, general manager of health and emergency services, suggested council ask for a more detailed staff report, which would also give information about the public-access defibrillator program and education workshops.

Council agreed to get a staff report before boosting the cardiac arrest target.