Emergency Medical Services

Service Information

Peterborough Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is committed to promoting the safety and well-being of its citizens. EMS and paramedics serve as the front-line of our emergency health care system and play a critical role in the provision of emergency care and treatment of a patient's medical condition or injuries.

The service is jointly funded by the County of Peterborough, City of Peterborough and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Health.

Mission Statement and Service Commitment

The mission of the Peterborough County/City Emergency Medical Services is to provide care, treatment, and transportation to the residents and visitors of Peterborough County/City, and surrounding areas to the best of our ability and training. The fundamental missions of the Peterborough County/City Emergency Medical Services are:

• To be available on a 24 hour basis to respond with optimum speed and efficiency to all emergencies.
• To provide emergency patient care to the public we serve. Emergency patient care includes the stabilization, treatment and transportation of the acute and critically injured.
• The transport of patients between health care facilities or to or from residences for admission, discharge and/or treatment.

Only Paramedics that hold current qualifications as set out by the Ambulance Act and related Provincial Legislation will be permitted to staff each ambulance. Each Ambulance, when available for responses to emergency calls, shall be staffed at all times by either; two qualified Primary Care Paramedics (PCP) or one Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) and/or one Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP). ACP coverage is distributed based on staff availability.

Present staffing levels:

• Advance Care Paramedics - 22
• Primary Care Paramedics - 100

Staffing

• Peterborough - 5 ambulances on 12 hour day shifts, 3 ambulances on 12 hour night shifts
• Apsley - 1 ambulance x 24 hours
• Lakefield - 1 ambulance x 24 hours
• Norwood - 1 ambulance x 24 hours
• Buckhorn - 1 ambulance x 12 hours (Only during summer months)

Fleet

• 8 front line Ambulances
• 6 spare Ambulances
• 4 Emergency Response Vehicles
• 1 Command RV
• 1 Operational Support Unit and Operational Support Trailer

Peterborough County/City EMS will endeavour to respond to Code 4 (Emergency) requests for ambulance service with a reaction time of 2 minutes or less and a response time within less than 19:00 minutes, as per the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care 90th percentile response time standard, based on 1996 data. Management shall be responsible for the regular review of Ambulance Dispatch Data Access Service (ADDAS), Lindsay CACC reports and iMedic data to ensure the standard is met, but also to take those steps necessary to improve upon response times, to the extent that it is possible.

Base Locations

FAQs & Links

• Health Services In Your Community
• Hospitals in Ontario: Questions and Answers
• Public Information - Ministry of Ontario Programs
• Ontario Paramedic Association
• Becoming a Paramedic
• Ministry of Health
• Ambulance Service Charges
• Hospitals: Questions and Answers
• Ornge Transport Medicine - Air and Land Critical Care Transport Unit

Documents & Resources

• Sections
• < Departments & Services
  • Emergency Medical Services
    • Staff Bios
    • EMS Employment Opportunities
    • Emergency Management
    • Fleet & Equipment