Nipissing Paramedic Services has rolled out a new initiative.
This one comes in the form of a Rapid Response Unit (RRU) that North Bay City Councillor Marcus Tignanelli rode in for a day.
“I have done five ride alongs this year with a bunch of different municipal services,” Tignanelli explained. “I was excited to go out with my dad who is an advanced paramedic. We took it out for the day to see what it is doing and how it serving the community better.”
“We were able to respond to a variety of calls from a car accident to several mental health incidents and just seeing how much faster we can get there, assist crews, and get on to the next call. With the high call volume, it is paramount today.”
An RRU isn’t your typical ambulance as it is a more mobile vehicle such as an SUV that can easily and safely maneuver through the city according to Tignanelli. The units are staffed with one qualified and equipped paramedic, as opposed to the traditional two in a regular ambulance.
“They aren’t faster in direct response time, but the RRU is able to do more calls,” Tignanelli explains. “They aren’t transporting patients or the intake at the hospital for the most part. They get to the scene, go through the proper procedures, the transporting ambulance arrives and they work as a team, and the ambulance takes the patient to the hospital.”
“The RRU is left to go to the next call, so that is where the efficiencies are.”
Tignanelli says the calls he experienced during his ride-along were pretty close to being back to back, with some even coming at the same time.
“It’s pretty amazing to see, we think North Bay is a smaller city but it is a very large city,” Tignanelli stated. “We were spread out from the south end in West Ferris to the north end up the north highway. It’s a vast area so it is utilizing resources to be as efficient as possible.”
With your traditional ambulance returning patients to the hospital, that’s where delays come into play says Tignanelli. The RRU keeps the paramedics on the roads longer.
“It’s a no brainer,” Tiganenlli said. “A lot of municipalities have it around the world. The new chief is very forward-thinking and innovating, and I think that’s what it takes and it is what we are trying to do in North Bay.”
