EMERGENCY AND PROTECTIVE SERVICES COMMITTEE

The Emergency and Protective Services Committee met on Thursday, July 6, 2006 at 8:08 a.m., in the Council Chamber, Regional Administrative Headquarters, 10 Peel Centre Dr., Brampton.

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*See text for arrivals
¨See text for departures

Chaired by Councillor P. Palleschi

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

RECOMMENDATION EPSC-7-2006:

That the agenda for the July 6, 2006 Emergency and Protective Services Committee meeting, be approved.

Regional Chair Kolb arrived at 8:10 a.m.

3. REPORTS

a) Paramedic Services Master Plan - Final Draft Report and Recommendation (Oral)
Presentation by Mic Gunderson, President, and Todd Hatley, Chief Operating Officer, HealthAnalytics

Received

Mic Gunderson, President, and Todd Hatley, Chief Operating Officer, HealthAnalytics provided a high-level summary of the final draft report and recommendation on the Paramedic Services Master Plan which included a more detailed operational and financial analyses of the Fire Department and Hybrid Models. Some of the findings determined from the analyses were as follows:

		Fire Department Model		Hybrid Model
Deployment		- From current or projected fire station locations		- From a combination of fire stations, police stations, "stand-by" stations and street corner posts
Facility Modification		- 33 fire station modifications		- 24 of 35 existing facility modifications - 16 from Fire Department and 8 from Paramedics
		- Double bay configuration		- Double bay configuration (Modifying existing structures with shared wall, HVAC, etc with fire or police structure is cost effective)
Financial Implications with an estimated total construction cost over five years (based on 2006 net present value)		- $12.7 Million		- $8.4 Million

In conclusion, HealthAnalytics recommends that the Region of Peel implement the Hybrid Deployment Model using fire, ambulance and police stations, and street posts (only as needed). Mic Gunderson stated that the Hybrid Model has lower construction and operating costs and allows the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Fire Departments to co-locate while reducing operational costs. He informed the Committee that a presentation and final written report will be submitted for approval to Regional Council at its meeting to be held on August 3, 2006.

Regional Chair Kolb requested that the final report include the cost savings to Peel if the Hybrid Model is implemented. Regional Chair Kolb expressed his concern with respect to the Peel population growth projection and noted it does not allow Council to determine how many ambulance units will be required in the future. Mic Gunderson stated that the final written report will provide more details on the population growth plan and its impact to Peel.

Councillor Mullin inquired if the Province will permit the Region to use the recommended response time of 12 minutes (as opposed to the legislated requirement of 9 minutes and 32 seconds). R. Kent Gillespie, Commissioner of Corporate Services and Regional Solicitor, informed the Committee that Regional staff will meet with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to discuss the proposal and to urge the Ministry to approve the recommendations.

Councillor Mullin inquired if there is a way to compare the response times of fire and ambulance for specific incidents. Mic Gunderson indicated that fire department response times average five to six minutes. He indicated that the combined data from fire and ambulance is not available and currently not integrated. Mic Gunderson stated it is an information technology (IT) problem and suggested IT representatives from area municipalities, the Region and the Province develop a data transfer process that will allow the records to be integrated.

Mississauga Fire Chief Garry Morden stated that the Fire Department data tracking is based on the computer aided dispatch systems (CAD). Each category of emergency call will indicate the travel time and actual response times of the Fire Department. Fire Chief Morden indicated that the difficulty is encountered when attempts are made to compare specific incidents from Fire Department data versus the data from the Central Ambulance Communication Centre (CACC) which tends to be unreliable. For the Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services, their 90th percentile response time is less than seven minutes, which indicates a high level of service.

Brampton Fire Chief Terry Irwin informed the Committee that Brampton Fire and Emergency Services track and report their response time information on a monthly basis. He noted that the 90th percentile response time for Brampton is seven minutes. For life threatening calls, based on 2005 statistics, the Fire Department arrived 7,757 times prior to the arrival of the ambulance, an average response time of 3 minutes and 48 seconds before the paramedics arrived on the scene.

Councillor Morrison inquired if funding for the EMS program would be affected if the target response time is moved up to 12 minutes. R. Kent Gillespie informed the Committee that the Province should continue to fund the project as long as the Region commits to moving to its target response time, regardless of what it is set at. However, that will be a point of discussion with the Ministry.

Councillor Palleschi requested that a caveat be included in the recommendation regarding a proposal to deploy paramedics in the hospitals as a temporary solution, and that it not be recommended unless it is completely funded by the Province.

Members of the Committee thanked HealthAnalytics for their report, and requested that the consultants meet with representatives from the Fire Departments unions and hospital representatives to gain support for the recommendations before the final report is presented to Regional Council. Councillor Palleschi also requested that the consultants solicit additional comments from the Fire Chiefs before finalizing the report.

4. COMMUNICATIONS

a) Robert Moore, Regional Director, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Letter dated June 21, 2006, Responding to a Letter from Regional Chair Kolb dated May 10, 2006, Requesting Peel's Interest in Participating on the Emergency Department and Ambulance Quality Implementation Team; Advising that Membership of the Implementation Team has Already Been Determined and, Reaffirming its Commitment to Converting the Brampton Site of William Osler Health Care to an Ambulatory Care Centre (Resolution 2006-240)

Received

5. IN CAMERA MATTERS

6. OTHER BUSINESS

7. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE MEETINGS

Thursday, October 12, 2006
1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Regional Administrative Headquarters
Council Chamber, 5th Floor
10 Peel Centre Dr.
Brampton, Ontario

8. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 9:25 a.m.