Ted McMeekin says it’s about preventing “needless hospitalization.”
The Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale Liberal MPP has announced close to $700,000 in local funding to extend the community paramedic program for another year.
The provincial initiative provides seniors and those with chronic health conditions with non-emergency care from a paramedic, often in their own homes.
The paramedics provide routine health services during the visits, such as blood pressure and blood glucose checks.
Last year, the program helped 523 people within the Local Health Integration Network, which stretches from Burlington to Niagara Falls and also takes in Haldimand and Brant Counties.
McMeekin says the result has been fewer 911 calls, hospital admissions and ambulance transports.