Amherstburg will follow suit with Essex and send letter regarding Code Blacks

By Ron Giofu

Amherstburg town council has backed up its colleagues from Essex and will send a letter to the province over EMS “Code Blacks” and “Code Red.”

The issue came before Amherstburg council at its most recent meeting and stemmed from a letter sent by Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy dated June 19. In it, Bondy stated Essex town council “appeals to the province of Ontario to acknowledge the challenges faced by our local emergency response system and take decisive action to resolve the gaps in our healthcare. While we recognize that our situation is not unique, we believe that it is essential to draw attention to our persistent Code Red and Code Black conditions, which are primarily caused by an insufficient number of hospital beds, medical personnel and resources.”

Bondy’s letter also states: “In the year 2021, Windsor-Essex experienced a cumulative of 3,253 minutes in Code Red and 791 minutes in Code Black. In 2022, the period subjected to Code Red increased significantly to 8086 minutes, whereas Code Black saw 2257 minutes.”

Code Black calls are for when there are no ambulances available to handle a 911 call while a Code Red means there are only three ambulances available. The major reason an ambulance wouldn’t be available is if they are tied up at a local hospital waiting to off-load a patient.

Councillor Peter Courtney said “this is becoming a really big problem” and but municipal governments need to often tread lightly.

“Code Reds and Code Blacks are

We Are Hiring

disastrous, moreso even for county residents,” said Courtney. “Ambulances usually take patients into the city where the hospitals are. Then, by law, they have to stay with that patient up to and including when there is a bed available.”

Courtney said there are different emergency services that can be offered by police and fire but they don’t have what EMS does in terms of such emergencies like cardiac events. He added Amherstburg should show Code Blacks and Code Reds are “a real issue down here” and that should be emphasized with the province.

Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb agreed, stating “it’s very important we keep the pressure on.”

Gibb added a lot of the issue is patient off-loading at hospitals, noting presentations from Essex-Windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter where he stated if he had 20 more ambulances, that would be 20 ambulances that would be tied up at area hospitals. The deputy mayor said it was discussed at the county-level that Windsor-Essex County has applied for a special exemption from the province that an individual can be assessed by a paramedic and then referred to another service other than an emergency room.

“Essex-Windsor EMS staff are doing what they can but I agree with Councillor Courtney that we should add our voice so the province knows there’s a problem and we need help fixing it,” said Gibb.

“The province doesn’t provide ambulance services. It’s the County of Essex that delivers ambulance services,” said Essex MPP Anthony Leardi.

Leardi said the Ontario government