EMAT deployed to assist with evacuees in Northern Ontario

Today, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care initiated a partial deployment of the Emergency Medical Assistance Team (EMAT) to Thunder Bay to help provide health care services to residents who have been evacuated from smoke and fire-threatened communities in Northern Ontario.

Sunnybrook and the Sunnybrook Centre for Pre-Hospital Medicine operate EMAT by providing ongoing specialized training to respond to crisis situations and clinical staff for the team. It is expected the team will be operational by Friday when they will establish a base of operations out of Thunder Bay and will work with the community and local health care providers to support health care services to evacuees.

Given the extreme conditions in Northern Ontario and indeed across the province, EMAT may also assist in relieving other pressures for health services in other areas, if the need arises.

This crisis team uses a mobile medical field unit that can be deployed anywhere in Ontario with road access within 24 hours. The EMAT can set-up a 56-bed unit that provides a staging and triage base, and has the capability to treat 20 acute care patients and 36 intermediate care patients. The EMAT is the first of its kind in Canada.

We want to thank all of those who have volunteered to work with EMAT and we wish them a safe deployment and return home.