When police flooded into a Kitchener neighbourhood Wednesday to deal with a man who had barricaded himself in a Kingswood Drive apartment, firefighters and an ambulance were there as well.
The ambulance, which was on standby, had been brought in from Guelph-Wellington EMS – because all of Waterloo Region’s ambulances were busy transporting patients when the call came in.
It was one of three Guelph-Wellington ambulances in Waterloo Region at the time.
At one point last week, there were four Guelph-Wellington ambulances in the area, as well as one from Perth County EMS.
According to statistics provided by the Region of Waterloo, 273 ambulances have been called into Waterloo Region from outside jurisdictions thus far in 2015.
On 260 occasions, Region of Waterloo EMS ambulances have been called to those other municipalities – which may include parts of Wellington, Perth and Brant counties, as well as Hamilton.
Stephen Van Valkenburg, the region’s chief of EMS, says it’s due to the “seamless philosophy” of the Ministry of Health-operated ambulance dispatch service.
“They talk with other dispatch centres,” he says.
“They’re aware of where our vehicles are at all times, and they’ll respond with the closest ambulance to that call.”
If a medical call is urgent enough and no ambulances are available, firefighters may also be dispatched to provide a quicker response.
Waterloo Region’s 18 ambulances respond to, on average, about 37,000 calls per year.
Van Valkenburg says call volumes have been unusually high since last October.
“We’re trying to dig through the data to actually figure out what’s going on,” he says.
A 19th ambulance is slated to be added to the Waterloo Region EMS fleet this summer, along with four additional paramedics.
In Wellington County, 15 ambulances respond to about 19,000 calls per year.
