EHS needs updated road list

In November of 2012, a neighbour in his early 70s came by to pick up a table at my house on Malcolm’s Road (off the Brickyard, past the provincial park).

Moving it out of a small shed, he slipped off a ramp and broke his leg with a compound fracture. We called 911 immediately and covered him with blankets. He was in severe pain but we reassured him that help was on the way.

Twenty to 25 minutes went by and sure enough we could hear the sirens go over Albert Bridge so we thought help would be there within minutes. An hour soon went by and we were wondering where the ambulance went. Then we hear more sirens and it sounded like another ambulance going over the bridge.

Well, this seemed odd, and then nothing.

After a couple of hours had passed my neighbour was worsening with the pain and cold. We continue to reassure him help is near.

Finally, after three hours, we hear yet another ambulance go over the bridge and soon another neighbour shows up with four ambulance attendants on the back of his truck with an ambulance behind him.

This results in five or six attendants and one ambulance in the yard. We also discover that the other two ambulances had gotten stuck trying to use an old road passage at the end of Florence Lane, the next road before ours. After a brief conversation the drivers tell me that the GPS told them to go down Florence Lane, which in prior years had access to Malcolm’s Lane.

So, after three-and-a-half hours, my neighbour was finally on his way to the hospital. The Emergency Health Services (EHS) attendants were very, very professional and did an awesome job. I contacted EHS within a week and sent them a map and talked to a supervisor who in turn said it would be fixed. After all, I may have a heart attack and be the next one needing their service. I wish I could recall the supervisor’s name but can’t. At any rate, they advised me the system would be updated and the problem rectified.

So this week the same neighbor who is now in his mid-70s slipped on ice while walking his dog and broke his hip ball off his femur on our road. He crawled for over two hours before two neighbours came to his rescue (thanks M & M.C.). Again 911 was called. They then called me because they knew I was familiar with the dog.

I had to leave work and drive from Sydney and got there about the same time as the ambulance did. The ambulance should have been there long before I was. However, again they went down Florence Lane.

This is obviously a safety concern. If the municipality or province change a roadway, rename a road or otherwise, we’d like to know that it does not impede our safety and the proper departments are notified of the changes. It shouldn’t take a heart attack or worse for a lesson to be learned here.

Dana McEachren Malcolm’s Road