A successful paramedic program that assists frequent 911 users in Sarnia-Lambton will continue into next year.
Manager Steve Pancino says they've secured enough funding to keep the program going through March of 2019, and that he's confident they'll be able to keep the program going past that date.
"We are continuing to see a decrease in 911 usage, a decrease in emergency department usage, and certainly an improved quality of care for the patients," he says. "We've just gone through a set of satisfaction surveys and 100% of the patients are seeing great value in the program."
The funding was secured from the Local Health Integration Network, Bluewater Health and a grant from the province.
Pancino says a decision on future funding is partially delayed because of the change in Ontario's government.
He says going forward, he'd like to grow the program out to the "underserviced" areas in the county, specifically where there are no primary care providers.
The pilot project was launched last August.