Outreach program saves lives, frees up hospitals and police resources

In light of recent news that Winnipeg's paramedic service is experiencing some challenges managing service demands, there could be no better time to illustrate the importance of the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's Community Outreach Patrol Program.

A joint effort undertaken with the city's police and fire paramedic departments and the Province of Manitoba, the Outreach Program puts ten trained individuals on downtown streets to help deal with an important social issue facing downtown--public intoxication.

The Outreach Program means fire, police and paramedic services are no longer solely charged with the time-consuming task of caring for and transporting intoxicated people. Emergency services can thus respond more quickly to more serious calls and the Patrol's response time is 10 minutes or less.

It is estimated an equivalent of $6 million in resources has been redirected back to police, fire and paramedic services since the Outreach program launched three years ago. The Outreach has also reduced the call load at the Health Sciences Centre, freeing up space, reducing wait times in the emergency room, and leaving doctors and nurses free to deal with more serious cases--all for less than $400,000 per year. In fact, recognizing this benefit, the Regional Health Authority has provided one-time funding to the BIZ to continue providing this essential service.

The Outreach Program is vital to our city because public intoxication is about much more than simply helping people off the streets for a night--it is a direct result of the poverty and homelessness that plagues many people in our city. Police and paramedics are tasked with one of the hardest jobs in the city, but they can't do everything. To place the burden of having to deal with social issues on them is unfair and undervalues their true worth.

Almost 8000 people have been helped off the street to date thanks to the Outreach Program. Some people have been connected with social service providers, while others have been supplied with socks, mittens, blankets, water and food supplies. The program has helped manage public safety concerns, improved the health of those living on the street, and helped relieve some of the pressure on the city's emergency services.

Lives have been saved, and our downtown is safer today because of this initiative. The city now has a resource that is able to respond to public intoxication in a timely and cost effective manner that works.

We know caring for an entire city isn't an easy task, and while our city's emergency services continue to do the best work they can, we will continue to work with the City of Winnipeg, the Province of Manitoba and the city's Police and Fire Paramedic Departments. It is the Downtown BIZ's ultimate goal to find solutions for the very real issues of public intoxication and the monumental task of eliminating poverty and homelessness on the streets of Winnipeg.

Stefano Grande Executive Director, Downtown Winnipeg BIZ