{"id":39126,"date":"2026-10-16T20:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=39126"},"modified":"2026-10-16T20:32:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T00:32:06","slug":"york-paramedic-services-receives-provincial-boost-to-support-timely-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/york-paramedic-services-receives-provincial-boost-to-support-timely-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"York Paramedic Services receives Provincial boost to support timely responses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fabian Walsh was playing golf last year when he suddenly took ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a friend called 9-1-1 from the course, Walsh was fortunate members of York Paramedic Services were already nearby and responded to his emergency in under four minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could have been the worst day of his life, he says, but the \u201cskills, training, calmness, and quick decisions\u201d made by the team in this life-or-death situation made all the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey came to me on what could have been the worst day of my life, and they have me something I can never repay: the gift of life, the gift of breath, and the gift of a future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walsh shared his story with the public on October 5 when community leaders came together at York Region Headquarters to celebrate a significant boost of Provincial funds to York Paramedic Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, York Paramedic Services will receive $68.93 million in Provincial dollars, representing a 10 per cent funding increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funding was announced by Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy, who said the increase will \u201chelp manage increased costs and continue to provide high-quality emergency care while supporting the paramedics, the ambulances, and the services that residents rely on every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An additional $2.78 million, she said, is dedicated to the Offload Nurses Program, which helps transfer patients from ambulances into hospital emergency departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen paramedics are waiting at a hospital to offload a patient, they’re not available to respond to a 9-1-1 call. So, by helping patients transition into hospital care more efficiently, this program helps get our paramedics back into the community faster,\u201d she continued. \u201cAcross Ontario, ambulance offload times have been reduced by over 65% since their peak in October 2022. So, here we are, four years later, 65% reduction. Thanks to these investments and the dedication of the healthcare professionals across the province, this is what we get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs York Region continues to grow, it is important that our emergency services have the resources that they need to keep pace with this growth, increasing the annual land and ambulance funding by 10%. It’s about supporting people. It’s about supporting the services, and it’s about the resources that residents depend upon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

York Regional Chair Eric Jolliffe welcomed the funding announcement, and said this money, including the dedicated dollars to the Offload Nursing Program, are \u201cvital to the health and safety of our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2025 alone, York Region Paramedic Services responded to more than 99,000 incidents and [an] almost 4% increase over the previous year. Investments like this support our entire health care system. More importantly, this funding allows our paramedics to quickly transfer patients to hospital practitioners and get them back, as has been indicated, into our community to respond to their 9-1-1 calls,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile that work is happening every day, our paramedics also are finding new ways to help residents get to the right care at the right time. This includes innovative programs like IMPACT (Improving Patient Access and Care in the Community). Paramedics are able to treat and release patients, connect them with other health care providers, or take them to alternative destinations rather than the emergency department. These are practical community-based solutions that improve the experience of residents while helping preserve emergency departments and paramedic capacity for those who need it the most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her role as General Manager of Paramedic and Senior Services, Dr. Julia Roitenberg said she has witnessed \u201cfirsthand the impact that targeted funding and investments\u201d can have on their branch of emergency services, particularly as York Region grows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs our communities continue to grow, so does the demand for these services. This funding helps us continue meeting the needs of our growing community while supporting innovative models of care that connect residents with the right care at the right time and in the right place,\u201d she said. \u201cThis funding also supports our hospital partners, helping streamline the transition of patients from paramedic care to hospital care. That means paramedics can get back into the community faster, ready to respond to the next call for help. This investment is about more than funding. It is about supporting patients, strengthening our health care system, and supporting our residents to continue receiving timely, high-quality care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the poignant story shared by Walsh, York Region\u2019s Commissioner of Community and Health Services Lisa Gonsalves said it underscores the fact \u201cthat behind every call for help is a person, a family, and a life that can be changed in an instance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour experience is a powerful example of the difference our paramedics make every day, and why continued investments in emergency care is so important to the people and communities we serve,\u201d she said. \u201cOn behalf of York Region, we would like to express our deep gratitude and appreciation to the Province of Ontario for this important investment and for its continued support of our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fabian Walsh was playing golf last year when he suddenly took ill. After a friend called 9-1-1 from the course, Walsh was fortunate members of York Paramedic Services were already nearby and responded to his emergency in under four minutes. It could have been the worst day of his life, he says, but the \u201cskills, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-ab4","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 22:28:40","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-10-16-05.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39128,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39126\/revisions\/39128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}