EMS chief announces retirement

By Fred Groves

After 42 years on the job, the Chief of the Essex-Windsor Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is retiring.

At the recent Essex County Council meeting, Bruce Krauter announced that his last day will be Feb. 29, 2024.

“My career has been rich and rewarding and I have decided that I can now move on to the next chapter,” said Krauter.

He has been the chief of the EWEMS for the past ten years and he said he will stay on until next year so a replacement can be found.

“Replacing someone with Chief Krauter’s experience, passion, commitment and drive will be challenging,” said Essex County Warden Hilda MacDonald.

Last week Chief Krauter presented a report to county council that pointed out projected call volumes and noted that in 2013 there were 52,026 calls and ten years later, now in 2023 that is projected to have an increase up to 61,214.

“A lot of those projections, with the increase and response volume can be attributed to numerous things,” said Krauter.

Of the seven municipalities in the County, Amherstburg is expected to have the biggest projected increase. In 2022, the town had 2,671 calls and that is going to jump to 2,924 this year which is an 8.65 percent jump.

One of the biggest concerns for EWEMS continues to be Code Red situations which is when only two ambulances are available in the region and Code Black when none are available.

“It’s a whole health-care system issue,” said Krauter. He noted that off-loading delays and hospital capacity continue to impact delivery of EMS services but added that at times, two paramedics may be able to stay with more than one patient which could free up an ambulance for other calls.

“We are starting to get off-load delays down to where they should be.”

Diversion strategies and encouraging patients to use alternate means of transportation are helping ease the strain on the EWEMS.

“We collaborate with the hospitals to get people moved from one site to another.”

Krauter said that in 2021 the EWEMS received 100 percent funding to start the Community Paramedic Long Term Care Team which focuses on clients that are awaiting placement to long term care and to keep them in their homes and reduce the use of EMS and emergency departments. That funding will continue for two more years.

Another issue that Krauter brought up is that the regions EMS is short-staffed but was pleased to announce 40 new hires.