Caring for friends and neighbours

How Council invested in Paramedics, Fairmount Home, care closer to home, primary care, and transportation for residents in need.

Some of County Council's largest responsibilities are among the most personal: Ensuring paramedics are equipped to respond when someone calls 9-1-1, equipping staff to care for residents of Fairmount Home, helping people live longer in their own homes, and supporting access to public healthcare and transportation.

Some services, such as social housing supports, are delivered through established shared-service arrangements with the City of Kingston.

During the 2022-2026 term, Council invested in people, facilities, vehicles, equipment, and partnerships to strengthen those services, even as demand for services continued to rise.

More Paramedic capacity

Frontenac Paramedics respond to emergencies across the County and City of Kingston. Increasing demand and offload delay at hospital constrain paramedics’ availability.

Council authorized $3.7 million in new capital projects. That's more bases, more ambulances, and more equipment. It also added more than a $1 million in annualized operating spending to support the addition of five 12-hour shifts during the term, totaling 21,900 annualized ambulance crew coverage hours. Council also invested in education positions, and other leadership resources.

The new Battersea Paramedic Station opened in 2024 through a cost-sharing partnership with the City of Kingston. Work also advanced on the joint Fire/Paramedic station on Taylor Kidd Boulevard in Kingston, which will provide two new bays with capacity for up to four ambulances.

Council and its partners also continue to fund nursing support at the emergency department at KGH so patients transfer into hospital care and Paramedics return to the community more quickly.

Adding capacity and ensuring Paramedic resources are deployed as efficiently as possible are keys to helping Paramedics arrive as quickly as possible for every emergency.

Helping people live longer in their own homes

Community Paramedics visit residents at home, providing assessments, monitoring, referrals, and other support that can help people manage their health, remain in the comfort of their own homes longer, and reduce demand pressure on emergency medical services.

Council committed County funding to keep the Community Paramedicine operating while long-term provincial funding remained uncertain. Long-term funding subsequently became more secure.

By May 2026, eight full-time-equivalent community paramedics were supported by $1.98 million in annual provincial funding from the Community Paramedicine for Long-Term Care program, and an additional $375,625 from Ontario Health.

As of October, 2026, community paramedics recorded 8,267 in-person visits during the term.

The highest standard of care for Fairmount residents

Residents of Fairmount Home depend on nursing professionals and other staff for care around the clock. Council continued investing in the people and resources needed to provide the highest standard of care.

In 2025, 98 percent of residents and families reported satisfaction with the care and services they received - the highest result in a decade. Fairmount staff also effectively reached Ontario’s four-hours-of-care-per-resident-per-day benchmark. Two Ministry of Long-Term Care inspections in May and July 2026 reported no findings of non-compliance.

Council authorized four new care positions during the term: a new nurse practitioner, night-shift registered nurse, occupational therapist, and recreationist.

Fairmount staff demonstrate their commitment to excellence through continuous improvement through the Home’s annual Quality Improvement Plan, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario Best Practice Spotlight Organization work, and CARF accreditation.

Looking forward, Fairmount’s building is approaching the end of its service life. Council is planning for redevelopment, including an increase in capacity. Adding beds and rebuilding for the future will be an important decision for the next Council.

Supporting access to primary care

Council donated $220,000 to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation (UHKF) to support healthcare in southeastern Ontario during the term, $54,000 in each of 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026. Successive Frontenac County Councils have reaffirmed 10-year donation commitments to UHKF from 2008.

Council supported physician-recruitment work during the term with financial contributions and partnerships. It contributed $17,500, matched by the Township of Frontenac Islands, toward a nurse-practitioner pilot serving Wolfe Island. By June 24, 2026, the nurse practitioner had seen 255 residents. Council also contributed $15,000, a supplement to $75,000 dedicated by the Township of North Frontenac, to support a second physician at the Northbrook Clinic, for residents of North Frontenac. Council also allocated $3,500 for membership in the Eastern Ontario Recruitment Alliance (EOPRA),

Council and staff continue to work with partners and to advocate for better access to family doctors and primary care across Frontenac.

Helping people get where they need to go

In a large rural area like ours, residents often depends on reliable transportation over long distances.

County Council continued to provide $96,000 each year to support community transportation delivered by volunteer drivers from Rural Frontenac Community Services and Southern Frontenac Community Services. Staff and volunteers help residents travel to medical appointments, adult day programs, shopping, social activities, and other destinations. The service is particularly important for residents who cannot drive or who have otherwise limited transportation options.

Transportation in rural areas for the people who need it is the connection between home in a rural community and needed care, services, and people.

Food on the table

Those same volunteer drivers from Rural Frontenac Community Services and Southern Frontenac Community Services also delivered groceries and prepared meals to qualified residents during the council term.

County Council also provided $6,500 in financial support to the Food Policy Council of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington to further its work as a forum for discussing food issues, to assess the community food system in KFL&A, and to inform and influence food and food-related policies and programs in the region.

What comes next

Caring for people will continue to require choices beyond this Council term. The next Council will face decisions about Fairmount redevelopment, Paramedic capacity and infrastructure, Community Paramedicine, healthcare partnerships, and community transportation, while increasing demand and workforce pressures continue to affect many of these services.

Frontenac Paramedics • Fairmount Home • Healthcare in our Community • Rural Frontenac Community Services Transportation Services • Southern Frontenac Community Services Transportation Services • Back to County Council Progress and Priorities