'His lips were turning blue': mother wants investigation into long wait for ambulance

AnEmbrunmother wants the province to investigateafter she waited30 minutes for anambulance to arrive whileher baby boy's lips turned blue as hesuffered a seizure earlier this month.

A dispatcher had earlier redirected the rural community's only ambulanceto respond to a higher-priority call in Ottawa because ofanambulance shortage in Ottawa, confirmedthe municipality's director of emergency services, MichelChrtien.

Claudia Gorenkosaidshe's lucky her four-month-old boy Benjamin is OK, but feels his life was put at risk. She has filed a complaint withOntario's Ministryof Health and Long-Term Care.

"A 30-minute wait is not acceptable," said Gorenko. "I had to give him mouth to mouth [resuscitation]. His lips were turning blue. I told dispatch that."

'I was like, 'Oh my God'

Gorenko said herson has seizures and that hetakes medication to control the problem.

But onFeb. 6, Benjamin sufferedmultiple seizures. A neurology team at theChildren's Hospital of Eastern Ontario told Gorenkoto call 911.

She was told it could take up to an hour for help to arrive.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, in 30 to 60 minutes anything can happen," saidGorenko. "What if he really starts cluster seizing?"

Chrtien confirms dispatchers later upgraded Gorenko'scall from code three tocode four, the highest level. But the township'sclosest ambulance was still 30 minutes away and had torace all the wayfromBourget, Ont.

"Who made the decision that the Ottawa residents take precedenceover us?" said Gorenko.

The health and safety of residents in both communities are equally important, she said, butthe municipality of Prescott-Russell isgetting short-changed, so she's encouraging residents to speak out.

"Why do they get our ambulances versus us getting our ambulances?We pay taxes as well. We pay taxes for those services," she said.

She also has concerns that herson's case wasn't initially dispatched as a life-threatening emergency.

'Nobody's impressed'

The mayor for the Township of Russell and the region's paramedic chief saidwhat happened to Gorenkois not acceptable, and they're askingtheirMPPfor help.

"Nobody'simpressed," said Mayor Pierre Leroux. "I'm afraid that it's going to take someone dying for [the province]to realize how grave the situation is."

Ontario regulations require whicheverparamedic is closest and available to respond to emergency calls.

Counties outside of Ottawa have becomeincreasingly frustrated by the growing numbers of calls they answer in the city.And due to changes in provincial policy, adjacent municipalities are no longer reimbursed for attending to Ottawa's emergencies.

Prescott-Russell'sparamedic service saiditspent more than $500,000 of its own fundsin 2016responding to emergency calls inOttawa.

The townshipfiled a complaint last year with the province about a specific nightwhenOttawa called for help 13 times, which led to adamning report suggesting the Ottawa Paramedic Service has a systemicproblem.

• Ottawa paramedics dispute damning dispatch report

Chrtiensaidthe problem has gotten worse lately.

His crews have responded to 80 calls in Ottawa in the past two weeks, he said.In one day alonehis ambulances were deployed to18 Ottawa emergencies, which he said wasa new record.

In Gorenko's case, the Embrunambulance that was re-routed to Ottawa did not end up transporting anyone to hospital, Chrtien said. It's an example of another problem with dispatching, he said, in which75 per cent of the highest priority code four calls they respond to turn out not to be life-threatening emergencies.

Chrtien said hemet with Gorenko about her complaint anddirected her to raise her concerns with the province.

"Service wasn't rendered, I think, to this lady, and she has the right to raise the issue," saidChrtien.

'Level Zero'

Ottawaparamedic Chief Peter Kelly said in an emailthat he can't comment on any specific case, but that the city "has taken steps to address the increase in call volumes."

The city hired a dozen new paramedics in July and four new emergency response vehicles are nowresponding to calls in thecommunity.

The service isalso preparing to hire 24 new college graduates when they pass their provincial exam in the spring of 2017.

Ottawa's paramedic service has been regularly reaching a statecalled "level zero," duringwhichno ambulances are available anywhere in the city at a given time.

Paramedics are sent in sedans until an ambulance is available,or other emergency services such as firefighters and police are deployedin cases of cardiac arrest.

There were 11 "level zero"warnings issued the week ofGorenko'sincident, between Feb. 6 and 12. Another 21 "level zeros"happened between between Feb. 13 and 20, Kelly said.