Oxford County Paramedic Services wins provincial award

Left to right are Dr. Jitin Sondhi, Medical Director for OCPS CP team; Jamie Walter, Superintendent of Community Paramedicine; Ryan Orton, Manager/Deputy Chief of Operations and Performance; and Teresa Martin, Executive Director of the Oxford Ontario Health Team. (Contributed photo)

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Oxford County Paramedic Services (OCPS) and partners have been awarded an Ontario Health System Quality and Innovation Award.

The award was given in the Patient Reported Experience Measurement (PREM) category for the county’s Remote Care Monitoring and Chronic Disease Management Program. It was presented on Nov. 25 at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

“Oxford County Community Paramedics are a specialized team of caregivers,” explained a county news release. “They take the time to connect with patients on a personal level, helping them understand how biometric readings and daily choices affect their overall health. PREM data shows that patients who feel heard report fewer visits to their family physician or the emergency department, resulting in a better experience for patients and caregivers, and meaningful system-wide cost savings.”

Jamie Walter is the county’s superintendent of community paramedicine and said their data collection shows a patient who is heard feels less need to visit their family physicians and less need to visit their local emergency departments, equalling less emergency department visits.

The PREM program has teamed with a vendor to provide clients with biometric data recording equipment including a blood pressure machine, oxygen saturation probe, weight scale, and tablet with a data plan to allow for easy transfer of information between the patient and our community paramedic team.

“OCPS is striving to push patient health upstream, meaning keeping people healthy longer, and to mitigate the number of 911 utilizations and hospital ER visits. Front and center of our philosophy is to provide the right care at the right time in the right place,” explained Walter.

He added patient approval to date has been positive, with a 95 per cent satisfaction with the care received, a 90 per cent report of ease of system use, a 96 per cent rate of patients feeling they were listened to and part of their own care, and a 67 per cent response rate of decreased need to see family physicians and hospitals.

Walter said the program is currently funded by the provincial government.

“Our community paramedic program currently receives $2 million annually through Community Paramedicine for Long Term Care (CPLTC) funding. In addition, we have applied for and received annual grants for programs such as RCM, which have grown modestly year over year with an increase in the number of patients served.”

He added winning the award means he and his team are doing something right to support those in the community needing extra help.

“The success of our remote care monitoring program reflects a simple but powerful belief that our health system can shift from reacting to crisis to preventing them, supporting people earlier, more meaningfully, in ways that truly change patient trajectories. This award reflects what is possible when we imagine a better system and build it together.”

The application process for the award included a patient testimonial from Ted, an 84-year-old who is a survivor of eight heart attacks and one stroke. Ted stated that he was extremely pleased with the program and that it gave him peace of mind knowing that he was being monitored daily.

Paramedic Services also received written support from two executive partners, Teresa Martin with the Oxford Ontario Health Team and Randy Peltz, Director of the Oxford County Community Centre.

“Oxford County Paramedic Services is committed to the community health and public safety of the people who live in Oxford County. Remote Patient Care Monitoring and Chronic Disease Management allows our paramedics to reach patients where they live. This approach gives residents confidence that their chronic conditions are being closely monitored and expertly managed,” said Ryan Hall, chief of OCPS.

The Remote Patient Care Monitoring and Chronic Disease Management program was launched in 2022 and allows paramedics to provide in-home health checks and remotely monitor the health condition of community members who frequently call on emergency services.

Remote monitoring patients range in age from 22 to 98 years old and typically have moderate to severe chronic diseases, such as Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, hypertension and diabetes.