Edmonton woman’s death after waiting 85 minutes for ambulance triggers calls for improved emergency system
Posted September 10, 2026 9:57 am.
The Alberta NDP says enough is enough.
The Opposition is urging the Alberta government to improve the emergency system and speed up ambulance response times.
It follows the death earlier this summer of Elaine Marie Warren-Blais, who waited one hour and 25 minutes for an ambulance.
Her husband, Dr. Guy Blais, believes that delay proved fatal and he feels his wife’s death could have been prevented. He’s also raising the alarm regarding ambulance response times.
“The doctors at the hospital, the U of A Hospital, and the nurses and the staff were great,” Blais said. “They tried to revive her, but they couldn’t.”
On July 24, his wife hit her head and fainted. Blais called 911 at 4:52 a.m., but the ambulance only arrived at 6:17 a.m.
“We need to fix the problem,” Blais said. “This, this is just one of the problems with our Alberta Health Service right now. “They’re moving around all the chairs on the Titanic that’s underwater. They’re not gonna be able to bring the Titanic up, which is our health care.”
Warren-Blais’ sister says the first hour of needing care is extremely important.
“Guy’s talked previously about the golden hour,” said Mona Warren. “Get the person to the emergency, and your chance of survival is a lot better if you get them there within the hour.”
The Alberta NDP echoed those issues at a press conference Wednesday.
“Nobody expects to have to wait over an hour when you’re in one of the two largest cities in the province and the hospital’s mere minutes away from where you are,” said Sarah Hoffman, the shadow minister for hospital and surgical facilities.
“We’re not gonna let this go,” added Blais. “We just don’t want this to happen to another Edmontonian, another Albertan in our province. It should not be happening.”
In a statement to CityNews, Emergency Health Services Alberta says an investigation is underway.
But the family believes the system is fractured beyond repair and is hoping to see a big change soon.
