Calgary man says 72-year-old aunt denied ambulance, calls for change

A Calgary man is looking for answers after he says his elderly aunt was denied a ride in an ambulance.

Chris, who spoke to CityNews on condition of anonymity, says he’s both shocked and frustrated by what his 72-year-old aunt experienced last week.

He says she fell on Feb. 1. After she endured two days of pain and limited mobility, he explains she agreed for him to call 911.

Paramedics are said to have arrived about 20 minutes later. Despite his aunt telling EMS she thought she had broken her hip, Chris claims paramedics told her that wasn’t the case after they saw the elderly woman use a walker to shuffle down the hallway of her home.

“They looked at me, and they said, ‘So what would you like for us to do for you today? Do you need help down the stairs? Or do you need a hand into your car?'” Chris recalled.

“Both of us were sort of, like, shocked at that. We didn’t really know how to answer that.”

He says the paramedics offered his aunt Tylenol and Advil and then said they could help put her into his truck.

Chris tells CityNews he told the paramedics it was going to be “a nightmare” for him to get her out of his car at the hospital, asking them if they could take her instead.

“He said no. And he looked right at me and basically said … ‘I’m sure you guys can appreciate there are other more urgent calls that we should be on.'”

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After the discussion, Chris says he went out to his truck to take his aunt to urgent care. When he drove from the back of the house to the front, he says the paramedics were already walking her out the door.

Despite his aunt telling the EMTs the passenger side would be too painful for her to sit on, Chris says they dismissed her concern.

“‘We’ll just lift you up and you can swing your legs and you’ll be fine,'” Chris recalled the paramedics saying.

“But of course, she’s in a lot of pain, she’s frustrated. I was sort of frustrated at this point. And then I was trying to tell them she’s part of that older generation. So, she’s a tough lady and if she’s asking for pain relief, there’s something wrong with her. But there was just basically no acknowledgement.”

Chris eventually brought his aunt to urgent care at the South Calgary Health Centre in Shawnessey. There, he says, they determined she had a severely broken hip.

“When we got in, we saw the other nurse and the doctor and they were both like, wow, this should never have happened. They provided us with a number to call to complain,” he said.

His aunt is now being discharged with a new hip after a short stay in the hospital. Now that the incident has passed, Chris says he felt judged by the paramedic he claims downplayed the injury.

“We’re sort of made to feel like we did something wrong, that we should never have called an ambulance. And it just left us both bewildered, we didn’t really know what to think or say,” he said.

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The woman’s injury came around the same time Health Minister Jason Copping and Alberta Health Services announced non-urgent calls will be diverted to a Health Link nurse to free up ambulances.

According to the province, the goal is to avoid the need to unnecessarily dispatch ambulances, freeing up resources for more urgent calls.

However, Chris says those on the frontline shouldn’t be making decisions like the one made with his aunt, adding he values the work they provide for Albertans.

“I would never be able to do their job. But I am not convinced that an EMT should be diagnosing on the field. That’s what physicians are for,” he said. “The fact that an ambulance or an EMT can deny a transfer to a hospital when the patient is asking to be taken to the hospital is just, to me, fundamentally wrong.”

Amid ongoing challenges and pressures on EMS, Chris says he’d like to see meaningful change.

“They’re always talking about strategies and visions, and … photo ops in ambulances. But where’s the change?” he asked.

“We’ve been going through this now for many, many years, and nothing has changed. It’s continuously getting worse. So, at what point do we start standing up and saying this is not okay?”

NDP says UCP management of distress calls is putting patients at risk

Meanwhile, the Alberta NDP continues to call the UCP out for what it says is poor management of EMS, adding cases like these are “very stressful and degrading.”

“Last week, the UCP said that some 911 calls would now be transferred to 811 to help ease the burden on emergency services. It’s clear that this badly managed transition has put patients at risk,” Lori Sigurdson, Alberta NDP Seniors Critic, said in a statement.

She is also calling out Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for her pledge to fix the healthcare system when she took office in October.

“It’s well past her 90-day pledge, and there has been endless chaos in Alberta health care. With Danielle Smith at the wheel, the road to fixing health care has been, and will continue to be, a treacherous journey,” Sigurdson said, citing an ongoing shortage of physicians in the province and other challenges in the health system.

In a statement,  Alberta Health Services (AHS) says EMS responded to the call and provided an “onsite assessment.”

“We cannot speak to patient confidential details of any individual response. However, AHS EMS always assesses every situation and its urgency and works with the patient and their families on scene to provide the level of care that is needed,” the statement reads.

“Patients with lower acuity needs who do not require ambulance transport can choose to not be transported to hospital if alternative transportation is available.”

AHS says it has reached out to the family to discuss the situation further.

-With files from CityNews staff