Greater Sudbury's ambulance services got a rave review from the province during a comprehensive review last year.
The inaugural meeting of the new Emergency Services Committee reviewed the report, which found that only one city in the province has set a more aggressive target for quickly responding to victims of a heart attack.
While the province set a standard of six minutes, the city aimed to meet the standard 70 per cent of the time, the second highest in Ontario. The review found they were able to meet the standard 73 per cent of the time.
“It's a good news story for us,” said Joseph Nicholls, the deputy chief of Emergency Services.
He said they intentionally set a target that they knew would be hard to achieve.
“We could have put the number lower because we know we can make it,” Nicholls said. “We've established a very aggressive response time to ensure we're pushing the system to do better.”
Overall, the review was positive and showed services were getting better, he said. In 2003, they received 41 suggestions on how to improve; in 2015, there were five.
“The service continues to see improvements.”
“If I had come home with a report card like this, my mom would have put extra pasta on my plate,” quipped Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini.
Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre, a former paramedic who was voted chair of the new committee, said the ambulance review was a significant achievement.
“To be able to get a score of 73 per cent, with our geography, kudos to you,” Lapierre said.
Read the full report here.
