Rapid Response Units and Ambulance Transfer Unit

Matt Crossman, General Manager of Island EMS, explains how the new Rapid Response Units and Ambulance Transfer Unit are having a positive impact on the delivery of paramedicine across Prince Edward Island. The Rapid Response Units respond to emergency calls and a highly skilled emergency medical technician III (paramedic) starts treatment immediately. They wait for an ambulance to arrive to transport the patient to a health care facility, if they need to go. The Ambulance Transfer Unit became operational in January 2014. The unit is specialized for transporting patients in non-emergency situations. Roughly one third of all calls to Island EMS are for non-emergency transfers. In the first ten days of operation, 28 transfers were completed.