Superior North EMS to ask Thunder Bay City Council for staffing increase as 911 calls rise

The head of Superior North EMS (SNEMS) is asking Thunder Bay City Council to fund a staffing increase as 911 calls climb.

Superior North EMS Chief Wayne Gates will make a deputation to council on Monday night, where he'll ask councillors to add 88 staffing hours every two weeks. If approved, a report to council states the increase would cost about $535,000 annually.

Gates told CBC News the last time there was a paramedic staffing increase was in 2018, when the agency was receiving just over 28,000 calls a year.

"We're now on track this year, in 2021, to probably exceed 32,000 calls," Gates said. "So we're really finding ourselves stretched for resources and keeping up with the demand."

Paramedics currently respond to one 911 call about every 15 minutes, Gates said. The volume, he said, is partly due to an aging population in the city, while mental health calls and addictions are also contributing to high call numbers.

Gates said Superior North EMS is working to ramp up its ongoing community paramedicine program, which is aimed at connecting some patients with other organizations that provide health services, and thereby reducing the number of 911 calls that paramedics need to respond to.

However, he said, the paramedic service is still "running into almost daily situations where we don't have units available that can respond to 911" calls.

"We're at a point now where I need the units to to keep up with that demand," Gates said.

If council approves the request, funding for the extra staffing would come from "unbudgeted revenue from operational programs," a report to council states.