911 calls diverted to nurses help shrink unnecessary ambulance response in Ontario region [Video]

An initiative that added the expertise of nurses to handle non-critical 911 calls in Niagara Region is lowering the number of ambulances having to rush to scenes.

Niagara EMS says adding an emergency communications nurse (ECN) to its system five years ago has been an important piece that’s contributed to a 20 per cent shrinkage of paramedics calls since 2019.

The effort seeks to eliminate unneeded ambulance calls and offer an effective alternative care method, avoiding a visit to a crowded emergency room.

The commander of Niagara’s Mobile Integrated Health Care unit says the program recently surpassed its 16,000th “low acuity” call triaged to an ECN, easing pressure on a network that handles some 70,000 911 calls a year.

Niagara EMS’s Marty Mako says about 20 per cent of the screenings through an ECN lead to a deferral which stops an EMS resource from having to be deployed.

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