Hastings-Quinte Emergency Services Committee has set a 2019 budget just below last year’s figure.
The committee is recommending that Hastings County council approve the budget at $8.6 million, slightly under 2018.
It includes cross-border ambulance trip costs, four new ambulances and $1 million in capital costs.
Ambulances cost about $143,000 per vehicle.
Chief of Paramedic Service Doug Socha told the committee on Wednesday there was an increased emergency call volume during 2018, with 4,000 hours of shift overrun.
Socha noted the support given by Wounded Warriors group in dealing with the stigma of PTSD.
Hastings-Quinte has a service contract with Prince Edward County at $2.7 million a year.
During an interview following the meeting, Socha said steps are being taken with Quinte Health Care to resolve the issue of non-urgent patient transfers.
Socha explained, “Last year we put some new things in place where we’ve asked the hospital to contact the Ministry of Health dispatch centre for non-urgent transfers that are going by the paramedic service to contact our superintendent so that we can work with them on where our vehicles are compared to where the patient needs to go. A lot of time they don’t know within their organization which patients are moving from site to site. We can help coordinate some of those movements so we can ensure coverage for the community for the paramedic side, but also those patients that do require our service are able to get to where they need to on time.”
Socha tells Quinte News planning will begin this year on a new ambulance base.
The local paramedics have taken part in a number of research projects and Socha says he’ll be preparing the followup reports later this year.
The projects include technology such as smart glasses and drones.
“We’re also completing our auto vehicle locator report so I think our service has been very progressive in pushing the profession and the technology in this way to find out what’s useable, what works, what doesn’t work. I think that’s going to help us as we consider future opportunities, says Socha.