BC Ambulance Service has launched review from hospitals After waiting nearly 12 hours for an ambulance, a 26-year-old South Surrey man with a broken hip despite living a 10-minute drive away.
It happened at night when her three out of ten ambulances in Metro Vancouver were left parked due to a shortage of paramedics.
His 72-year-old Jaqui Joys tripped on a tiled floor on August 6, fell and hit his head. She didn't yet know that she had also broken her hip, but at least she knew she wouldn't be able to move enough to get in the car. Luckily, there was a call to the counter, so I was able to call 119.”
She called the emergency line sometime around 7:30 pm. rice field. and she at 8pm. She then called her son and moved her to a more comfortable chair to help her wait.
By this time she said she had a burning pain in her leg, her son had called her again, and her ambulance was taking a long time to arrive. I investigated why. They were told paramedics were on their way, but she was 10 hours later when the ambulance arrived.
Her son called her four or five times during that time.
"Every time he called, he said they were on their way, but the ambulance never came," she said. "Well, Alberta or Manitoba, I don't know, but in the morning she finally arrived at seven."
She took no pain medication while she waited. I did.
BC Emergency Medical Services confirmed the call was received at 7:11 pm. On August 6, paramedics arrived at 6:44 am the next morning.
“Throughout the evening, several ambulances were dispatched to this call, but along the way, paramedics were then diverted to other calls that were triaged as potentially life-threatening. ' said the ambulance. statement. It apologizes for the delay and says it will be reviewed.
Ambulance response time will vary depending on the severity of the injury and life-threatening conditions. Cardiac arrest, chest pain, difficulty breathing, severe bleeding, and unconsciousness are usually responded to by an ambulance with lights and a siren, according to the ambulance.
The agency said 61 of her 88 ambulances planned were deployed to Metro He Vancouver during the night shift.
The agency struggles to recruit ambulance workers and retain existing paramedics.
Joyes, who lives alone and was home recovering from surgery on Wednesday, underwent immediate surgery and a partial hip replacement, so she ate nothing and took no painkillers.
She praised the paramedics for helping her when they finally arrived, saying they were very kind and did a great job.
"It's not the paramedics' fault. The system just collapsed," she said. "I think something needs to change."
It became a matter of state elections.
Eleanor Starko. The liberal candidate for that by-election said it was unacceptable for the elderly to wait so long for an ambulance. No more excuses, it deserves a resolution.If elected, I will seek more paramedics and increase mental health support to improve retention," she said on Twitter.
Conservative candidate Herman Baghu said it was "very disturbing" that older people should wait this long, Blamed NDP for failure BC health system
, this is unacceptable," he said in an email. "I know this is not just a Surrey problem. A man in Ashcroft recently died of a heart attack when the nearest ambulance was half an hour away."}
Bagu needs more doctors, more nurses, more paramedics, more hospitals.
"We need to make it more accessible and remove all health care workers who have been laid off for private medical decisions." We need more people, we need to save lives.”
At Ashcroft, the shortage of paramedics is also on this scale. Happened twice in a month. In two cases, on July 17th and on August 14th, he had to wait nearly 30 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Both seniors were afflicted on the same block as an ambulance station and hospital and received emergency first aid from Ashcroft volunteer firefighters. Died.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said the ambulance service has seen a steady rise in immediate life-threatening or urgent calls identified under a six-color classification scheme as purple and red phones.
"And the only way we can respond to that is triage," Dicks told Postmedia News on Tuesday. "So when people say they've waited X hours for an ambulance, it's simply due to the triage of those calls."
We are investing more money, and we will continue to do so.”
Leanne Heppel, British Columbia Paramedic Chief Emergency Medical Services, recently Ashcroft In light of the death, he told Postmedia News on Tuesday, before Joyce's interview. He said he would meet with them to explain the situation and listen to their concerns.
She acknowledged that ambulance services are facing shortages and that the pandemic, last year's heat her dome, wildfires, floods and shortages are stressing emergency workers. . She and her agency senior management travel the state to discuss challenges with frontline staff and come up with better hiring and retention plans.
According to Heppell, 78% of her 500 full-time and part-time paramedic positions added in rural and remote areas have been filled, with recruitment to fill the remaining positions. Activity is in progress.
The ambulance service is also analyzing where the number of calls has increased so that communities can be staffed appropriately, she said.
ticrawford@postmedia.com
kderosa@postmedia.com
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