Local MPP Billy Denault and Health Minister Sylvia Jones take in a demonstration by Renfrew County Paramedics
Renfrew County’s Virtual Triage and Assessment Centre was the center of attention on Thursday, March 27th, as it marked a major milestone.
County Warden Peter Emon, CAO Craig Kelley, and several local mayors joined County Paramedics at their Renfrew office to welcome Health Minister Sylvia Jones and new Member of Provincial Parliament Billy Denault for a tour of the local VTAC office as the program celebrated five years in operation.
Jones touted the Centre for its innovative approach to connecting the community to primary care providers, something she says the province needs to encourage, embrace, and fund.
Jones says VTAC is a unique solution that is helping the province lead the country in matching patients to health care practitioners, adding its success can be traced directly to the sheer amount of commitment and advocacy shown from several individual organizations.
Meanwhile, County of Renfrew Chief Paramedic Mike Nolan says there’s a sense of pride in taking an idea born from the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic and developing it into a safety net that has helped over 50,000 individuals in the community get the advice from care providers and paramedics that they’ve needed to avoid over 60,000 trips to the emergency department.
Nolan adds that the VTAC model has drawn people from Ottawa to the Valley for access to its care, and that municipalities from Leeds-Grenville all the way to the St. Lawrence River and even in other parts of the country have either already scaled VTAC to fit their own needs or are currently looking into it as an “elegant solution” for regions where health resources are being stretched thin.
(written by Kasey Egan)