Paramedic Services - FAQs

Over 270 full- and part-time Paramedics and Supervisors work for the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services.

No.  In the County of Simcoe, we have Primary Care Paramedics and Advanced Care Paramedics.

Primary Care Paramedics can provide patient assessments and emergency medical treatment.  Advanced Care Paramedics provide a wider range of medical treatment in an emergency.

There are 14 Paramedic Stations and three satellite posts in the County of Simcoe, all strategically located throughout Simcoe County to provide quick response:

• Alliston
• Angus
• Barrie North
• Barrie Tiffin
• Beeton*
• Bradford
• Coldwater
• Collingwood
• Craighurst
• Elmvale
• Midland
• Stroud
• Tottenham*
• Orillia
• Stayner*
• Wasaga Beach
• Washago

* Satellite Posts

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Emergency Health Service Branch's Basic Life Support (BLS) Patient Care Standards,  provides direction to transport patients to the closest hospital unit capable of providing the medical care apparently required by the patient.

Normal land ambulance costs are billed at a rate of $240.00, of which all but $45.00 is covered by your provincial health insurance.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has mandated receiving hospitals to bill patients for ambulance service provided.  The bill is issued on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, not the local ambulance service.  Local ambulance services have no control over billing processes, except in special circumstances, and they do not directly receive the money from your ambulance bill.  For this reason, all billing inquiries should be directed to the hospital which issued the bill for ambulance service, and not to the ambulance service itself.

In 2005, Simcoe County Council approved the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services Public Access Defibrillation (CSPS PAD) Program, allowing Paramedic Services to organize the placement of  lifesaving devices within the community, thereby increasing the chance of surviving sudden cardiac arrest.

The CSPS PAD Program  provides a turn-key solution to organizations interested in placing an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in their facility.  CSPS will provide a comprehensive suite of PAD Program services, including site inspections, polices and procedures, medical oversight, the development of internal response system designs, free-of-charge training, and ongoing support.

For more information on the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services Public Access Defibrillation Program, please contact the PAD Program Coordinator.

The County of Simcoe Paramedic Services makes every effort to conduct two CPR Save-A-Life courses per year - one in February, for "Heart Month," and one in November, for "CPR Month." 

Specific dates will be posted on the Paramedic Services page of the County web site.

There is no cost to attend, but participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food item which will be donated to a local food bank. 

Participants will receive instructions in the Heart and Stroke Foundation course utilizing the CPR Anytime Family & Friends Kit from the Ontario Heart and Stroke Foundation. This course includes basic anatomy of the lungs and heart, signs and symptoms of a heart attack and stroke, adult and child CPR, adult and child choking emergencies and information on Automated External Defibrillation (AED).

This is a non-certified CPR course.  Participants will receive a participation card under the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario.

The County of Simcoe Paramedics volunteer their time for many events during the year.  For events such as school visits, community groups, or charity fund raisers, there is no fee.  

If your event requires dedicated medical coverage, please contact our office.  Fees for such services apply, and will vary, depending upon resources required to provide medical coverage.

No.  The County of Simcoe Paramedic Services does not offer ride-outs on any of our ambulances to members of the general public, due to patient confidentiality, and health and safety concerns.  Ride-outs are limited to Paramedic students.

911 calls in Simcoe County are answered by two call-taking centres.  Ordinarily, the call-taker asks, "Do you require for, police, or ambulance?" and then immediately transfers the call to the requested agency.  Calls made to 911 from TTY (telephone typewriter) are handled differently than other 911 calls.  Our 911 call-taking centres are equipped with TTY terminals.  The call-taker engages in a typed conversation with the caller, obtaining as much information as possible about the nature of the emergency.  The 911 call-taker then calls the required agency, and relays all of the information on behalf of the caller.  Our largest 911 call-taking centre reports that they receive an average of 1 TTY 911 call per year.

If the call-taker cannot determine the needs of the caller, the call will automatically be transferred to the police agency that serves the location of the caller.  Police will physically response to the incident, and then call other agencies as required.

As above, if the call-taker cannot converse with the caller, the call will be tranferred to the police agency that serves the location, that is linked with the call.  Unfortunately, unlike land line calls, 911 calls made from cellular phones do not provide precise address locations.  Rather, they provide a radius of likely location.  This radius could be as great as a kilometer, or more.  If police are unable to locate the caller using this GPS information, they will work with the cell phone carrier to try to locate the caller.

Texting to 911 for the DHHHI community is being piloted by Bell Canada now, but is not currently available in Ontario.  The date for full implementation has not yet been identified.

If you have a comment/complaint/compliment about the service you received, please contact the County of Simcoe Paramedic Services.