Lambton Emergency Medical Services is taking a proactive approach to try to reduce the number of 911 calls, while at the same time improving care for frequent 911 users.
Lambton EMS Manager Steve Pancino says they hope to implement a pilot program this summer that would see four specially trained staff respond to non-emergency calls.
"It's a program that utilizes what we call 'community paramedics,'" he says. "They are paramedics that are existing staff who see patients in a proactive manner before they call 911 instead of waiting for the call and then providing care at that point."
Pancino says statistics show that the top 5% of health care users account for 65% of the cost, while 70% of calls for 911 service in Sarnia Lambton are from patients over the age of 65.
"We're looking to identify high users of emergency services and the emergency department and see if we can together work to wrap some services around these patients to better serve their needs and help mitigate them using 911 resources," says Pancino.
Those being targeted require mental health, geriatric or complex chronic disease care.
It's hoped permanent funding is eventually approved for the pilot project that has an initial $235,000 price tag.