Police, not EMS, originally responded to suspected 'non-urgent' dog attack on senior scene: AHS

Health Minister Jason Copping says he, like many Calgarians, is concerned with the 30 minute EMS response to a dog attack that claimed the life of an elderly woman.

An 86-year-old woman was mauled in the alleyway outside her backyard in Capitol Hill Sunday afternoon by a neighbour's three dogs.

Police responded to the scene at around 2:10 p.m. but paramedics arrived significantly later.  

"The minister shares Calgarians’ concern that 30 minutes passed from the initial 911 call, to when an ambulance arrived on the scene." said Steve Buick, press secretary for the minister of health.

The woman died from her injuries in the ambulance on the way to the Foothills Medical Centre, an approximately four kilometre drive from where the attack took place.

REVIEW UNDERWAY

Late Tuesday afternoon, AHS officials confirmed a review had been conducted into the matter.

"AHS has reviewed the circumstances surrounding the tragic death of a Calgary senior on Sunday afternoon. Our thoughts are with the woman's family and loved ones at this time, and we have reached out to them.

"Our review of the events that followed the emergency call to 911 has found that:
 

• "The initial 911 call was received by City of Calgary 911 dispatch and was categorized for police response based on the information provided from the scene.
• "Calgary Police Service communicated to EMS that they were responding.
• "Based on information provided to EMS, the call was triaged as non-life-threatening.
• "When CPS arrived on scene, they notified EMS that the patient's injuries were serious."EMS immediately dispatched an ambulance, which arrived on scene nine minutes later."

"This tragic incident occurred at a time of very high EMS call volumes," the statement said. "However, once the call was deemed high priority, an ambulance was dispatched immediately.

"AHS is discussing these findings further within EMS and will reach out to CPS to identify any further learnings from this tragic incident."

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY

The dogs were seized by Calgary Community Standards as a criminal investigation into the matter is underway.

The province recently announced that four new fully staffed ambulances will be on the street in Calgary by the end of June, plus a new non-emergency transport vehicle to free up ambulances for 911 calls.

Five more ambulances will be on Calgary roads by the end of September.

Mike Parker, the president of the paramedics union, said 40 per cent of paramedics are casual staff, and wants to see them hired full time with benefits, to help with the backlog in the system.

"We need to try and keep the paramedics we have,” said Parker of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta. "We are losing our paramedics at a significant rate right now. They are walking away from the industry because of calls like this, where they have spent a half hour trying to get there, to find that, 'well we know the outcome now.' It’s devastating for the family, to the community and the paramedics trying to get there."

Parker added that the four new ambulances on Calgary roads by the end of this month won't make a significant impact unless there is staff hired to fill them.

COPPING REACTION

Late Tuesday afternoon, following the release of the AHS's revised statement, Health Minister Jason Copping's office sent out the following statement.

"Minister Copping is relieved to hear that the initial review by AHS confirms there was no undue delay in the EMS response," it read.

"It doesn’t change the fact that this death was a terrible tragedy, or the need to address the strain on EMS," the statement continued.

"We need to keep supporting EMS and adding whatever resources are needed until we get response times back within AHS’s targets, where they were until last summer when volumes surged by up to 30 per cent."