'Mom, I can't get ahold of anybody at 911': B.C. family faces difficulty getting ambulance for injured boy
Issues last week with B.C.'s 911 service provider meant some callers, including a grandmother, faced long waits or were unable to get through at all.
When seven-year-old Zak Ismail cut his foot on broken glass and his mom couldn't get the bleeding under control, his grandmother says repeated calls to 911 were met with a busy signal.
"She says, 'Mom, I can't get a hold of anybody at 911,' and I was like, 'How can that be?'" said Delta grandmother Erin Schulte
Schulte says she was at work at the time and made the 30-minute drive to her grandson. The frantic grandmother then put him in the car and rushed him to Surrey Memorial Hospital herself.
But says she could tell his condition was deteriorating.
"His eyes were drooping down and he was slouching down. Scary, because I had seen how much blood was on the garage floor (where he injured himself)," Schulte told CTV News.
The emotional grandmother recalled trying to comfort Zak.
"We're on our way to the hospital. Everything will be OK. Granny's got you," she said she told him.
Then she hit a traffic jam and was desperate for help.
"So I called 911. They said, "police, fire or ambulance?' I said, 'Please, I need an ambulance.' And for the rest of my trip to Surrey Memorial I was on hold until I pulled into the driveway," she said.
BC Emergency Health Services say the wait on hold was about 12 minutes. Schulte said she believed the wait to be between 16 and 18 minutes.
E-Comm, B.C.'s provider of emergency communication services, says it's not short-staffed, but admits there is a problem and it's not on its end.
"The challenge that we're experiencing is our call takers are being tied up on those 911 lines with callers waiting for an available BCEHS calltaker to accept that call on behalf of the ambulance service," explained Jasmine Bradley, a spokesperson for E-Comm.
In other words, when 911 dispatchers try to transfer the call to ambulance, callers sometimes face long waits at that point.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health said that BCEHS "has been currently experiencing a high volume of medical emergency calls."
The ministry says its taking action with "hundreds of new paramedic positions, 30 new dispatchers and 22 new ambulances." The positions are expected to be filled between October and December.
Troy Clifford of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. agreed steps have been made toward improvements, but said those steps aren't not enough.
"We're in the process of getting those positions but that doesn't help us in the short term ... We're still seeing those significant delays and the shortage of not enough ambulances to respond to calls."
He says at peak times, 25 per cent of ambulances are still parked because of a lack of staffing.
Clifford also says that the national benchmark is to respond to the most serious calls within 8.59 minutes 90 per cent of the time.
"In most places in the Lower Mainland we're not meeting that. They're over 10 minutes...We're hearing from agencies, our first responder partners, times are up to 20 minutes for those type of calls," Clifford said.
Meanwhile, E-Comm urges people not to hang up if they call 911 and hear a recorded message. Bradley said the caller will still get through faster by staying on the call than by re-dialing.
Schulte worries what might have happened if her grandson had been in a life or death situation and they had called 911.
"Because it's a literal crapshoot. Are they going to answer the phone? How long am I going to be on hold? Is someone going to actually come?" questioned Schulte.
She says the system needs to be fixed because lives are on the line.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NDP motion regarding Palestinian statehood passes after major Liberal alterations
A motion from the federal New Democrats initially calling on Canada to recognize the 'State of Palestine' passed amid widespread acrimony on Monday, after the Liberals drastically altered its wording to see the government simply work towards that aim as part of a two-state solution.
'He didn't want to die': Family of Calgary man killed in standoff speaks out
Family of a Calgary man killed after a 30-hour standoff with police last week are speaking out, sharing details of the tense and heart-wrenching experience.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Ohio mom who left toddler alone 10 days when she went on vacation pleads guilty to aggravated murder
An Ohio mother whose 16-month-old daughter died after being left home alone in a playpen for 10 days last summer while she went on vacation was sentenced Monday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
5 charged in Calgary kidnappings that targeted women
Calgary police have charged five men in a pair of kidnappings last year that targeted innocent victims.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Canadian commander of volunteer fighter group dies in Ukraine
A Canadian-born commander of the so-called Norman Brigade, a volunteer fighting group in Ukraine, has died.