Council agrees to more help for Superior North EMS.

Chief Wayne Gates, in his pitch to council Monday night, was looking for more resources as we see services needed more often.

“The expansion I’m looking at, currently we have what we call two eight-hour cars that only run five days a week,” explains Gates. “One car does a Monday to Friday shift while the other car car does an evening shift of Tuesday to Saturday. My ask with council is I’m looking to expand those cars into a 12-hour shift that will run seven days a week.”

Gates added : “We would average a 911 call for EMS every 15 minutes. Because of that demand, it does not take much for us to get into a code black situation. A code black situation can vary anywhere from a minute up to 45 minutes or an hour.”

A code black is a situation where there is a call for EMS, where there are no ambulances available to respond at that moment.

Many Councillors including At-Large representative Aldo Ruberto praised Superior North EMS, and the responsibilities taken on during the pandemic.

“I know that the paramedics have expanded their services, before it was just all about driving ambulances,” says Ruberto. “When COVID hit, it looks like they stepped up and took on a different role going into the senior homes, testing people.”

Chief Gates cites an increasing population and an increase in mental health issues and drug abuse as the largest factors leading to the need for more paramedics.

Gates believes the increase will help support paramedics until at least the end of the summer, and hopefully until the end of the year.