Average ambulance response times for Priority 1 calls (immediate risk of death) for Vaudreuil-Soulanges municipalities from April 2011 to January of this year. The only municipality in the sector with a response time under 10 minutes is Terrasse-Vaudreuil. (Gazette – James McCafferty)

by JAMES McCAFFERTY


VAUDREUIL-SOULANGES — Priority 1 ambulance response times for the Rigaud-Vaudreuil-Dorion region averages 17.1 minutes — far in excess of the 11.7-minute Montérégie average, the Hudson/St. Lazare Gazette has learned.

Response times for Coopérative des techniciens ambulanciers de la Montérégie (CETAM) ambulances obtained under an Access to Information (AI) request filed with the Montérégie health and social services agency (ASSSM) show that out out of the 16 municipalities in the Rigaud and Vaudreuil-Dorion regions, only Terrasse Vaudreuil has an ambulance response time of under 10 minutes.

According to printouts of response times between April 1, 2011 and January 31, 2012, a Priority 1 (immediate risk of death) 911 call from Hudson takes ambulances, on average, 18 minutes and 23 seconds to arrive. That same call took 12:29 in Vaudreuil-Dorion; in Rigaud, 14:13 and in St. Lazare, 16:18. The four Île Perrot municipalities came out on top: L’Île-Perrot, 12:26; Notre-Dame, 17:09; Pincourt, 11:11 and Terrasse-Vaudreuil, 9:33.

Quebec health ministry’s response-time guidelines stress survival rates after cardiac arrest drop to below 2% after 10 minutes even if a defibrillator and CPR are used. The ministry and its regional agencies strongly urge rural municipalities to set up their own emergency medical services (EMS) to bridge the response-time gap.

However, of the 23 Vaudreuil-Soulanges MRC municipalities, only seven — Hudson, St. Lazare and the four Île-Perrot municipalities — are served by EMS paramedics, or first responders, which means the 16 others depend solely on CETAM ambulances — and CETAM response times.

“When [Priority 1 calls] happen, if [an ambulance comes] from further away, their chances are likely that they might not survive the intervention because of the response time,” said Île Perrot First Responders Chief Joey Strati. “We’re in 2012, cities should realize, but this is often not their priority because the government doesn't give a lot of money to help start first responders.”

The response-time issue came to a head when the ASSS and CETAM announced that they were closing the Rigaud depot and transferring the two ambulances and crews to Vaudreuil-Dorion. ASSS director-general Richard Deschamps has vowed that response times won’t suffer because ambulances will remain stationed in the Rigaud area.

According to Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de la Monterigie (ASSS) spokesperson Francois Simard, the ASSS uses the number of calls in a region to determine the level of service needed, then negotiates that coverage with CETAM. If the number of calls increases, the ASSS will ask CETAM to station more ambulances in the area.

Three weeks ago, The Hudson/St. Lazare Gazette established that the average Priority 1 response time for CETAM ambulances was 11.7 minutes in 2010-2011, according to information obtained by one of Quebec’s two major ambulance unions. In the Vaudreuil-Dorion and Rigaud regions, the average is 17.1 minutes.

“11.7 minutes is for all Montérégie,” said Simard, “which consists of Longueuil, too. Everything is a lot closer than Ste. Marthe and Ste. Justine de Newton are to you. This is the kind of situation that occurs in places without an urban centre. You’ve got to look at the distance and the number of calls to understand the nuances in response times.”

If there is a 98% or more chance that a patient is dead after 10 minutes, shouldn’t something be done to improve response times?

“First responders are a great solution for towns,” said Simard. “At the agency we encourage municipalities to have First Responder services. We have grants for that, so it’s up to the municipalities if they don’t have it.”

“A lot of cities buy defibrillators and put them in public places,” said Strati. “Alerte Santé will help people do CPR on the patient when the ambulance is on the way. We hear it often on the radio that people are instructed what to do: Put them on the ground and start the compressions and they go through the steps with them.”

Although the equipment is available, it is still up to citizens to know what to do. Alerte Santé will help, but time spent trying to understand or even find a defibrillator quickly reduces survival rates. The ASSS, the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Corporation d’urgence santé have launched the new Hero in 30 program. The program is a simplified version of the traditional courses teaching CPR techniques that help save lives.

Training is offered throughout Québec by the 4,000 certified instructors. To find the instructors in your area, visit http://www.santeducoeur.org/formationrcr.php.