Paramedics respond to call almost 2 hours away due to 'level zero' in Ottawa

Paramedics from Gananoque, Ont., had to drive an ambulance almost two hours torespond to a 911 call in Ottawa's urban core last week during one of several recent instances when dispatchers had no local paramedics available to send.

The paramedic chief for the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville says they sometimes respond to Ottawa calls, but those are typically in the area where the two jurisdictions meet: near Kemptville and Ottawa's rural village of North Gower, for instance.

In the late hours of Dec.30, however, an ambulance from Gananoquespent an hour and 52minutes going to a call incentral Ottawa, said chiefJeff Carss. No closerteam became available in that time so the paramedics from the town, which ismore than 150 kilometres south of the capital, could be called off, he said.

"I can't say that I can recall during my tenure here that we've had a response that has gone that far," said Carss, who has been with the service for a decade, and its chief for the past two years.

Carss says Leeds and Grenvillecounties have 150 employees with 11 ambulances on the roads during the day andsixovernight.On that particular night, four separate ambulancesresponded toOttawa calls.

Level zero

The situation known as "level zero" has been a problem in Ottawa for many years. Officials have tried to tackle what's seen as a main cause: the time paramedics spend waiting athospitals to transfer patients instead of being on the road.

While figures for 2021 won't be available for several months, the City of Ottawareported 435 instances in 2020 when the region's communications centre had no Ottawa paramedics to send to Ottawa calls.

Dispatchers send the nearest available ambulance, so teams from outside the city oftenanswer calls for Ottawa residents, or vice versa. That has at times caused tension with surrounding counties, who find their teams tied up in the city when Ottawa is short.

• Temporary 40-bed unit at Civic hospital opens
• Paramedics spent 53,000 hours delayed at hospitals in 2019
• 'People are dying': Life and death at level zero

But the pandemic has caused"unprecedented service impacts,"the City of Ottawa's paramedic chief Pierre Poirier wrote in an emailed statement Friday.

That has led to several instances of level zero in recent weeks, including cases three consecutive days at the end of December and as recently as Jan. 6, during whichOttawa's paramedic service sometimes had to rely on Ottawa firefighters or neighbouring paramedics to take calls.

High call volumes return

"These service impacts are related to the record cases of COVID-19 within the community, the offload delays being incurred at hospitals, and the high call volumes, which have returned to pre-pandemic levels," wrote Poirier.

While hospitals have reported staff shortages because of the Omicron wave, the paramedic service itself has minimal impactsright now, Poirier said.

More than50 paramedics did test positive forCOVID-19 at aDec. 15 holiday party, although Poirier did not reference any impact from that event in his Friday statementabout the callfor the Gananoqueambulance.

• Paramedic service hit with 30 COVID-19 cases after off-duty gathering

In a Dec. 22 memo, Poirier had said the isolation of staff had minimal impacts on ambulanceservice. Ina Dec. 28 follow-up, hesaid many had returned to work and contingencies,such as having staff work overtime, were no longer needed.

In total, the Ottawa Paramedic Service has a staff of nearly 700, with more than550 paramedics and 80 communications officers.

In Leeds and Grenville, chief Carssnoted the pandemic is a stressful anddifficult time for his own paramedics. Call volumes are high again. Patientscan sometimes become upset at them if they've had to wait for an ambulance.

Paramedicshave also taken onextra roles, such as vaccinating residents of long-term care homes.

"I think, generally, everyone's tired. They're sick of COVID, not sick with COVID," he noted.