EMS Coverage Improves with PRU stationed at Goulais River

The District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board is pleased to announce the addition of a Paramedic Response Unit (PRU) to provide enhanced land based Emergency Medical Service (EMS) coverage in areas north of Sault Ste. Marie. Beginning June 30, the Paramedic Response Unit (PRU) will be deployed across the northern part of the Sault Ste. Marie District.

“This is the result of significant planning and effort and will significantly improve EMS coverage in our rural service area between Sault Ste. Marie and Montreal River”, said Social Services Board Chair Luke Dufour.

The goal of a PRU is to deploy a professional paramedic to the scene of an emergency call to treat and stabilize the patient while waiting for a transport ambulance to arrive. Our PRU will be posted at the Goulais River Fire Hall and be deployed to the communities of Searchmont, Heyden, Goulais River to Batchawana Bay and beyond. The PRU will add support to the many volunteer first responders who have served the rural areas for decades across the district. The PRU will be dispatched by the Central Ambulance Communications Centre and the current schedule will see the PRU working seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

The Board of Directors and the Sault Ste. Marie Paramedic Services look forward to serving our communities and wishes everyone a safe summer.

Sault Ste. Marie Paramedic Services employs approximately 70 (64 full and part-time paramedics and 6 administrative positions) who deliver provincially mandated emergency medical services to approximately 80,000 people 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sault Ste. Marie Paramedic Services currently has a fleet of 14 vehicles which include ambulances, emergency response vehicles and administrative vehicles.