What is Community Paramedicine (CP)?
Community Paramedicine (CP) in Muskoka is a unique branch of Paramedic Services, funded and operated separately from the front line emergency deployment of ambulance service. Currently our Community Paramedics (CPs) are available 7 days a week/12 hours per day from 0700-1900hrs.
The goal of our CP program is to keep people in their homes longer by assisting to keep them healthy and connect them with services that were otherwise unknown to them. We strive to do this by filling in the gaps in their care plan, not to duplicate services already offered, while also focusing on quality of life, overall health and caregiver burnout.
One of our primary focuses at the moment has been on Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients and patients deemed high risk of becoming ALC as well as people on waitlists for LTC. The goal here is to support clients in their home while they await LTC placement and/or assist in keeping them from needing ER visits and potential admission to hospital. We accomplish this through a combination of Home Visits, Telephone Visits, Community Paramedicine Remote Patient Monitoring (CPRPM) and OTN visits that we facilitate for the PCP.
| Community Referral by EMS (CREMS) |
| CREMS referrals allow all Muskoka paramedics to refer 911 patients to our Home Visit program or Muskoka Health Link if, during their assessment, they note their patient may benefit from additional community supports. |
| Wellness Clinics |
| Wellness Clinics will focus on education, disease prevention, assessments, and linking patients to community resources. These are held at various locations throughout Muskoka. Wellness Clinics are co-hosted by CPs and may involve presentations, mini-assessments, and community resource referrals. |
| Home visits |
| Home visits will allow patients to access primary healthcare through CP’s. Services may include blood work draws/analysis, specialized assessments/treatments, and wellness checks. Home Visits are conducted by CPs who received extensive training and hold an advanced certificate in Community Paramedicine. |
| Community Partners |
|
Muskoka CPs work closely with many community and health partners across The District Municipality of Muskoka. They include, but are not limited to:
|
Background on Community Paramedicine Program
In 2017 MPS applied for funding through The North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (NSM LHIN) and was granted $64,000 to create and operate the program for 2018, leaving no impact on Paramedic operations or the current tax supported budget.
While designing and training staff for the program, MPS began Phase 1 by rolling out the Community Referrals by Emergency Medical Services (CREMS) program in July of 2017. Since then, many patients have been referred to The District of Muskoka’s Health Link agency, with many receiving coordinated care plans, linking them with various community services. The referral program allows front line Paramedics to identify patients that might benefit from support services, while performing their regular duties.
As the program evolved to Phase 2, 6 active Paramedics were recruited from existing MPS staff, and received specialized training to conduct wellness clinics. Some of the Community Paramedics (CP) were trained to offer an expanded scope of care during the home visits part of the program, Phase 3, which went live in early 2019..
In late 2020, the MPS CP program received additional funding of $3.25 million dollars from the Ministry of Long Term Care to assist people in their homes while they await placement in Long Term Care.
MPS currently has 8 certified Community Paramedics and continues to recruit and train more staff each year.