A 75-year-old South Ottawa woman had to wait six hours for an ambulance after falling and breaking her hip in one of the latest incidents to overwhelm the Ottawa Paramedic Service.
Nine-year-old Haisley Laverne said she saw her grandmother screaming for help after she fell at the end of her driveway in Greeley while trying to move a trash can.
“I looked out the window and realized grandma was on the ground outside and I ran downstairs to tell dad,” she said. “It scared me a lot.”
Elaine Deschene’s children, grandchildren and neighbors rushed to help, but had to wait six hours for an ambulance after being called around 5 p.m.
During that time, said her daughter-in-law Kathy Deschenes, family members pressed Elaine onto a walker to get up her driveway to the garage and out of the humid heat Thursday night.
“Every time we pulled back like a foot by a foot, she would scream in pain,” Kathy said.
“We had no choice. We couldn’t get her into a vehicle. We would have taken her to the nearest hospital if we could. But we absolutely needed an ambulance.”
Six hours later, an ambulance arrived and paramedics prepared a stretcher to transport Elaine Deschenes to the hospital. (Cathy Deschenes/Submitted)
Cathy Deschenes said after the six-hour wait, Elaine was taken to Winchester District Hospital by paramedics in Cornwall and has since received excellent care. She was transported to the Ottawa Hospital as the fractured hip was confirmed.
“At the end of the day, I’m more concerned about patients and families who are alone and have no one to help them. I think my mother-in-law was super happy to have so many people around her,” Kathy Deschenes said.
“We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.
Elsewhere in the city late Thursday, Ottawa police said they treated a man who had been shot on Clifford Private and transported him to hospital “because there was no ambulance available.”
Police said the injuries were not life-threatening.
CBC News contacted the Ottawa paramedic service on Friday and did not receive a response to questions about staffing levels or whether a ground zero had been declared on Thursday.
In a report last June, city staff said there were 526 instances where ambulances were unavailable in Ottawa between Jan. 1 and May 25 this year — compared to 45 instances during the same period in 2021.
He attributed those delays to a 12 percent increase in response volume, as well as delays in offloading that kept paramedics in hospital.
Count. Matt Luloff, chairman of the Public and Defense Services Committee, was not available for an interview Friday afternoon.
In a report last month, city staff reported a 12 per cent increase in response volume and discharge delays, leading to a spike in cases where ambulances are not available in Ottawa. (Renault Patri/CBC)
In a statement, he welcomed efforts by paramedics to reduce the time it takes for ambulances to respond to calls and said the “widespread national and provincial problem” of zero levels should be addressed by the Department of Health.
The Ontario Ministry of Health issued a statement Friday saying they take the issue of ambulance availability very seriously.
The ministry said it has expanded the dedicated nursing program to free up paramedics when they reach emergency rooms.
It said $7 million was added to the program in the 2022-23 budget to hire nurses, paramedics, community paramedics, respiratory therapists and physician assistants to fill those positions.
The ministry said it was looking at both long-term and short-term solutions to address problems with hospital flow, space constraints, hospital culture and access to non-urgent care alternatives.
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