A man who was injured after being upended while walking along a southwest street has died in hospital as a result of the incident.
EMS officials confirm a man in his 60’s was rushed to hospital in life threatening condition at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday from the Spruce Cliff area. The man’s injuries are believed to be the result of a slip and fall on an icy section of ground in the 3300 block of Spruce Drive S.W.
Police confirm the man succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The identity of the deceased has not been released.
Dr. Eddy Lang, Alberta Health Services’ department head for emergency medicine in the Calgary zone, says Calgary’s wild swings in weather contribute to hazardous conditions and he encourages people to exercise caution on sidewalks and roads.
“On an average winter day in Calgary, if you add up all the people who come to all of our emergency departments with fractures, falls, injuries that require emergency attention, that's about 50 or 60 people, about one busload,” said Dr. Lang. “On a day when meteorological conditions are the most severe, we can see four times that number. It’s really quite worrisome and it’s a really serious problem in this province. It’s essentially a mass casualty incident.”
Lang would not comment on the specifics of the incident in Spruce Cliff but says Calgarians of a certain age are more likely to face significant risk after suffering a fall. “Our population is aging, a lot of them are taking blood thinners, so even a small fall from one's height, without any stairs involved or without being hit by a vehicle, can potentially be fatal.”
Lang says AHS is considering issuing public advisories when meteorological conditions present significant risk. “We think they are as harmful to the population as smoke in the air.”
With files from CTV's Alesia Fieldberg
