Caledon Village Association unhappy with EMS report

Written By JULIA LLOYD

In its July newsletter, the Caledon Village Association (CVA) made it clear they were not satisfied with the EMS report by the Region of Peel. 

The Region of Peel is currently on break and so no regional council meetings will be held until September. Speaking to the Citizen this week, Kate Hepworth, President of CVA, stated the local association held several notable concerns with the recent report.

“There are so many issues with the report, but if we had to pick one it's the fact that  statistics weren't broken down by area,” said Kate Hepworth, president of CVA. 

Another concern of the CVA is the frequent depletion of Caledon ambulances in more populated areas, which provides Caledon with less daily coverage of emergency vehicles. 

The most recent EMS report can be found in the regional council agenda from June 27. 

The issue of emergency response times was brought to the attention of Peter Dundas, Chief of Peel Paramedic Services, in October of 2018 by local resident Mira Budd. 

In early January of 2019 Peel Regional Paramedic Services (PRPS) initiated the Divisional Modal in Caledon. As well, a comprehensive report was carried out to assess the model and its apparent success. 

However, CVA held many concerns regarding the divisional model before PRPS had even implemented it in Caledon. The move saw the town's six standalone stations transformed into four satellite stations. 

The most current EMS report was supposed to show the numbers supporting the move to a Divisional Model in Caledon, according to Hepworth. The report made no mention of EMS response times in Caledon. 

The data collected for the report covered a time period highlighting emergency service responses in March 2019 all the way back to 2008. 

Ms. Hepworth pointed out one example where the report is, in her words, incredibly vague, “In 2018, time savings in offload delay resulting from various process improvement initiatives, including offload nurses, are estimated to be approximately 29,300 hours or the equivalent of 2,440 12-hour shifts.”

“But where are the numbers for Caledon?” asked Hepworth. 

Hepworth continued to explain that there are four districts being covered by the divisional model, and Caledon is district four. 

“District 4 on a regular basis goes what is called, ‘Code Yellow', meaning there are five or less vehicles available to respond to emergency calls in that District,” explains Hepworth. ”The boundaries are Highway 9, Highway 50, the 407, and then over to Winston Churchill. It's a massive area, seriously massive. If you're under five vehicles, and this happens on a regular basis, but they're not willing to put down on paper...”

Reg. Coun. Ian Sinclair recently made a motion to receive an assessment of EMS in relation to Caledon; and that was supposed to be in the most recent report that just came out in June. Now, the residents must wait until September to see if PRPS provides any statistics for Caledon. 

“Chief Dundas and Nancy Polisineli (commissioner of Peel's health services) are very aware of the concerns that are not just CVA but in fact, many Caledon residents have concerns too,” explained Hepworth. 

In 2007, the Region of Peel introduced a Hybrid Model, where Brampton and Mississauga would operate on a Divisional Model, with six reporting stations and 16 satellite stations, and the rural part of Peel — mainly Caledon — would continue to operate with six of their stand-alone stations. 

Then in June of 2007 Resolution 2007-833 was passed and was bound by proceeding bylaw 67-2007. This resolution was to have Caledon continue with their current station-based model until 2017, however that never happened and in 2011, the report indicated planning for satellite stations in Caledon. 

“It is one of those, do it right the first time and save having to do the job twice,” said Hepworth.