The Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board is the designated delivery agent for land ambulance in the Manitoulin and Sudbury Districts. The land ambulance service is directly operated by the DSB with all of the paramedics being DSB employees. The DSB is proud of the high quality paramedic service that we provide to the residents and visitors of our communities
Look in the front pages of your telephone book to find out the emergency number to call in your area. Most of the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB areas have a 911 telephone number for emergencies.
The ambulance dispatcher will ask you for the following information so that an ambulance can be sent immediately:
Please provide this information to the dispatcher as calmly as possible, following the above order. Please make sure that you do not hang up the telephone until the dispatcher advises you that it is O.K. to do so. This is especially important if you are calling from a cellular telephone.
No. The Central Ambulance Communications Centre (CACC) is directly operated by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC). The CACC receives the calls, selects the ambulance(s) or other resources (Emergency First Response Teams or Air Ambulance) to respond and dispatches them.
If you have a valid Ontario Health Card and your use of a land ambulance is deemed to be medically essential by an attending physician you will:
You are exempted from the co-payment if you are receiving provincial social assistance, are a registered Home Care client or are living in an Ontario health care facility.
If you do not have a valid Ontario Health Card or your trip is deemed not medically essential by an attending physician you will be billed $240.00 for a land ambulance trip.
The average cost to the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB for each land ambulance call was $960.57 in 2003. Legislation currently prevents the whole cost being billed to a patient regardless of whether they have OHIP coverage or not.
The hospital that you arrive at or depart from will bill you. The hospital retains the majority of the billed fee and submits a portion to the Ontario MOHLTC.
You may be exempted from any payment of an ambulance trip if you are
97% of our front line staff are Primary Care Paramedics. A primary care paramedic is a graduate of a two year intensive college program and has the ability to provide several delegated medical acts including: defibrillation (electrical shocking of the heart) and the administration of several medications. Paramedics must re-certify annually.
Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB Paramedic Services has stations at the following locations: Hagar, Noëlville, Killarney, Gogama, Foleyet, Chapleau, Massey, Espanola, Little Current, Wikwemikong, Mindemoya, and Gore Bay. These ambulances are dynamically deployed so that they may be assigned to “standby” in various locations throughout our area in order to provide emergency coverage to the larger community.
In addition, the Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB Paramedic Services supports volunteer Emergency First Response Teams in St. Charles, French River Delta, Tehkummah, Cartier, and Cockburn Island. These are volunteers who are provided with first aid and CPR training and are called upon to respond to emergencies in their communities, providing aid until the paramedics arrive.
Manitoulin-Sudbury DSB Paramedic Services ambulances respond to more than 9,000 calls per year. Approximately 3,000 of these calls are emergencies with a risk to someone’s health, safety or life.
The Highway Traffic Act requires that all vehicles pull to the right and stop in both directions of travel when an emergency vehicle (Paramedic Services, Fire or Police) is approaching with its emergency lights and / or siren activated.
If an emergency vehicle (Paramedic Services, Fire or Police) is on the shoulder of the road with its emergency lights activated, it is the law that approaching vehicles slow down and move over to give the emergency workers more room and safety on the side of the road.