A man in his 60s died while waiting for an ambulance a few blocks from the local hospital, the mayor says
This story is part of Situation Critical, a series from CBC British Columbia about the problems people in this province have getting health care that is timely and right.
A close friend of the mayor of a small town in the West Kootenay area of British Columbia died of a heart attack while the town’s ambulance was out of service because someone was sick.
Tom Zeleznik, the mayor of Nakusp, says that his friend, whose name he didn’t give for privacy reasons, died on January 29 while on his way to the Arrow Lakes Hospital, which is just a few blocks from the friend’s home in the town of about 1,700 people, which is about 125 km east of Kelowna.
According to Zeleznik, his friend was in his late 60s.
Zeleznik says that his friend’s wife and her neighbors called 911 for an ambulance but were told they had to wait because there was no ambulance in Nakusp at the time. They were told that the closest one was in Castlegar, which was about 146 kilometers south of the community.
B.C. Emergency Health Services (B.C. E.H.S.) confirms that the ambulance crew that normally serves Nakusp did not work that day because someone was sick. Instead, paramedics from Castlegar and Winlaw helped the community.
CBC asked B.C.E.H.S. for an interview, but they refused. Instead, they sent a written statement from a spokesperson saying that when the first call came in, a paramedic crew was sent right away because it was a “low-acuity” or “non-lights-and-sirens” call.
They said that 45 minutes later, the people who called 911 told the paramedics that the person was being taken to the hospital, so the response was stopped.
At that time, the ambulance was still up to an hour away from Nakusp, according to BCEHS. They also say that if it were a “lights-and-sirens” emergency, the ambulance would arrive in 90 minutes or less from Castelgar to that community.
The service said that more details about the situation could not be given because of patient privacy, but that the caller was never told to take the patient to the hospital on their own.
Paramedic shortag
Zeleznik says that his friend’s death was sad for the family because he thinks that his life could have been saved if an ambulance could have taken him to the hospital faster.
Patients dying because they had to wait too long for an ambulance has been a problem in the Interior and other parts of the province for the last year.
Last August, an 84-year-old man in Ashcroft, B.C., had a heart attack and died while waiting for an ambulance for more than 30 minutes, even though the ambulance station is right next to his house.
A month earlier, a woman who lived nearby in Ashcroft had a heart attack and died when the only ambulance on call was also about 30 minutes away.
Zeleznik says that he and Leonard Casely, the mayor of nearby New Denver, have been pushing for better ambulance service for two years. They spoke about the issue at the Union of B.C. Municipalities meetings last fall. One of their requests is better communication with the public, like putting up signs when the local ambulance isn’t available.
Zeleznik says that last November, B.C. Emergency Health Services expanded its services to Nakusp by putting permanent, full-time paramedics in charge of a 24-hour-a-day ambulance service. However, there are still some problems, and there are still open positions.
B.C.E.H.S. says that Nakusp has eight regular full-time jobs and two irregular part-time jobs, and they are hiring more people to fill the empty spots.
They also said that when ground crews aren’t available, they can work with other first responders, such as the RCMP and hospital staff, or use an air ambulance.
B.C.E.H.S. says that its chief operating officer Neil Lilley met with Zeleznik and Casley of New Denver on Feb. 9 to talk about long-term solutions to the long wait times for ambulance services in the two municipalities. They are planning to meet again in early March.