Essex-Windsor EMS presents case for optimizing ambulance dispatch during rollout of new system

Essex-Windsor EMS on Tuesday afternoon in Toronto presented its case to the Ontario Ministry of Health to embed clinicians during the rollout of a new 911 priority dispatch system.

Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Justin Lammers made the pitch alongside Warden Hilda MacDonald and County of Essex CAO Sandra Zwiers at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Toronto. Their presentation highlighted why embedding clinicians in the Windsor Central Ambulance Communications Centre, in tandem with the move to a Medical Priority Dispatch System (scheduled for February 2027) would improve triage accuracy, provide instantaneous secondary clinical review, and optimize resource deployment amid ever-increasing call volumes.

“The population of Essex-Windsor is rapidly rising, and system-wide stresses including call volumes keep rising in proportion. These factors long ago necessitated that our ambulances be assigned as efficiently and accurately as possible. It is crucial that we not only keep doing so, but improve upon it. As the challenges keep rising, it is hard to keep up,” said Chief Lammers.

“The new Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) will help us triage patients and dispatch ambulances with greater efficiency and accuracy at the get-go. That is most welcome. What would improve response times and patient outcomes even more in our uniquely challenging region, however, would be additionally adding healthcare clinicians at those crucial initial moments – the moment a 911 emergency call is received – to ensure that the most urgent, life-threatening emergencies are tended to first and foremost.”

Read the submission made to provincial officials, here.