Code purple and red, used for life-threatening calls, are on the rise in B.C. That’s more work for understaffed ambulances and hospitals.
When the 911 call came in on a recent hot summer evening for an unresponsive elderly man lying by a bus stop on a busy Vancouver street, dispatchers urgently sent both a regular ambulance and an advanced-care paramedic team, a specialized unit for critically ill patients.
“It was a difficult situation. You’re working in a crowded area with multiple different types of factors going on: there’s traffic around, there’s people on the street, … and we had another patient on the scene, also, who identified themselves as needing help,” said Dave Leary, a spokesman for the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., who was one of the paramedics on the call.
“The stress levels are high.”
