'Code black' incident in Essex County prompts worries about ambulance response times
CBC
Ambulances from Chatham-Kent were briefly called in to help deal with situations in Essex County earlier this week, and that is causing concerns with the union representing EMS workers as well as some residents in the area.
"I don't want to see my father end up in worse shape because he couldn't get EMS to attend within a reasonable period of time," George Vieira said.
His father underwent surgery on Wednesday. He says one concern following the procedure is that there could be arterial bleeding and was told to call 911 if anything were to go wrong. Vieira said he is concerned if something happened late at night and an ambulance had to be called from Chatham-Kent to Harrow, where his father lives.
"If we call 911, like we're told to do, or there's no ambulance in Essex County that's available to assist him, how is he going to get any help before he bleeds out?" Vieira said.
As a retired police officer, Vieira said he's familiar with responding at high speeds to calls that are far away.
"If somebody needs emergency care in for example Harrow or Colchester or Amherstburg and an ambulance has to come from Chatham-Kent, there's no way that ambulance is going to arrive in Harrow no sooner than 40 minutes," he said.
Bruce Krauter, the chief of Essex-Windsor EMS, said that the recent code black happened at 10 p.m. and lasted about two to three minutes. Code black refers to instances when there are no ambulances available to respond.
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