Paramedics across Canada are struggling to answer emergency calls and provide care because of staff shortages and overcrowded hospitals, another symptom of the serious trouble facing the country’s faltering health care system.
People who are calling 911 for help in many regions of Canada are facing lengthy delays, sometimes hours long, for ambulances. Once they get to a hospital, those individuals usually face another lengthy wait before they can be seen by a nurse or physician.
While dispatchers are triaging calls, giving priority to the most serious medical emergencies, the pressure on paramedic services is having a ripple effect throughout Canada. In Montreal earlier this month, a 91-year-old woman who injured her leg died during a seven-hour wait for an ambulance. Also this month, in Ottawa a 75-year-old woman who fractured her hip had to wait for six hours in intense pain before an ambulance arrived.
