The two sides have launched a pilot project that will see a paramedic stationed at the Bloor-Yonge subway station during the morning and afternoon rush hour periods. The paramedic will respond to emergency calls for ill or injured TTC patrons on either the Yonge-Spadina line from St. Patrick station to Lawrence station or on the Bloor line between Coxwell and Dundas West stations.
The TTC and EMS hope that the pilot project will cut down on response times - typically between eight and 10 minutes - giving ill and injured patients quicker access to medical care and allowing the subway line to resume service quickly after medical emergencies.
"What we're looking to do is increase the efficiency of the system," said TTC Chair Adam Giambrone. "As ridership goes up, with that comes a certain increase in the number of medical emergencies. At the end of the day, these medical emergencies end up causing a large number of delays."
Giambrone said that, given an eight-minute response time, an emergency call would delay a minimum of four trains during rush hour times.
"An eight-minute delay is the equivalent of four trains passing by," he said, adding that each train typically carries as many as 1,300 or 1,400 passengers during peak times.
Toronto EMS Deputy Chief Michael Neill said that ambulances would still be dispatched for emergency calls, but added that having a paramedic stationed within the TTC would help EMS maximize their resources.
"Hopefully, having a paramedic here will allow us to get to the patient quicker and begin treatment," he said. "In some cases, the paramedic may even send the ambulance back if it's not a major injury where paramedics won't be needed, or the paramedic here can give critical information to the ambulance."
He noted that EMS delays when tending to ill or injured TTC passengers were often the result of ambulances having to navigate gridlocked Toronto streets and difficulty for paramedics in entering congested TTC stations.
"Depending on where the problem is, we can have our paramedic jump on a (subway) train or take a vehicle to go (tend to a patient)," he said. "The TTC is interested in taking care of their patrons first of all, but they also want to keep delays to a minimum so this should help on both sides."
Wayde Lansing, the Toronto EMS paramedic who will be stationed in Bloor-Yonge station, said he will work closely with TTC staff in case of emergency.
"We've got the medical side covered and the TTC side covered," he said. "(TTC staff's) knowledge on how to get in and out of the stations and get to a patient is very valuable."
Lansing will be equipped with a portable emergency medical kit that will contain everything from a basic first aid kit to basic medications to deal with a variety of illnesses and devices to provide cardiac, respiratory and other high-need care.
Giambrone said the TTC will fund the cost of the paramedic throughout the pilot project, adding that response times will be monitored until the 19-week project's conclusion to determine whether it provides a tangible improvement in TTC patron care.
"We'll be trying out a number of methods to travel to neighbouring stations, seeing what works best and seeing how much of an impact (the pilot project) has," he said.
Last year, Toronto EMS was called to 4,182 emergency calls in TTC subway stations and on trains, 1,241 of which were due to customer illness or injury on trains. All told, those emergency calls added up to 2,983 minutes of delay in subway service time.