Socha leaving Hastings County Emergency Services

The Director of Emergency Services for Hastings County and Chief of Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services is leaving the job at the end of July.

Doug Socha, who has been Chief since 2002, is leaving the profession to work with his mother who owns an Indigenous art gallery with locations in Stratford and Vancouver.

He says there have been a lot of changes for paramedics over the last 20 years.

“You know, I remember when defibrillators first came on the ambulance. We never had emergency response teams. Advance care paramedics weren’t in this area. We now have community paramedics, drone program, utv, so, so I think there’s a lot of advancement from the profession and I see it going more and more into that community-based health care.”

Socha has been a champion of community paramedicine, with several pilot projects in the region including the current pilot funded by the province that will run until 2024.

“We’ve got about 10 full time community paramedics that are out there really making a difference. So I think we’re able to connect with primary care, we’re also able to link with paramedics that are on the ambulance so that if a 911 ambulance shows up and a patient doesn’t want to go to the hospital, there’s also links that those paramedics can refer over to the community paramedic for follow-up care.”

He says remote patient monitoring also allows community paramedics to monitor people’s blood pressure, pulse and blood sugar and conduct visits if required.

Socha’s last day is July 31.

His replacement has not been named.