The death of a 56 year old woman in Vancouver last year has resulted in an independent review panel making 14 recommendations to improve 911 response.
Health Minister Adrian Dix announced it would be implementing those recommendations early this week. BC Paramedic Association Executive Director Scott Ramey says a lot of it comes down to resources and servicing so many communities. “So many other partners in those different communities and different responders. So ensuring a regular ongoing communication with all of these different communities definitely requires the resources to be able to visit everybody, set up the meetings, have these conversations, and actually do the work to share.”
The drug addicted woman had called 911 as she was bleeding profusely. She had provided the exact address, unlocked her unit and essentially took all the steps that was asked of her by the call taker to make sure she was able to get the help she needed. However, she ended up dying after it took 35 minutes for paramedics to respond to her in her high rise apartment building. Dix launched an independent investigation into the incident after to avoid similar deaths in the future.
Ramey says the ability to send electronic information could help with building access and response times. “Those decisions are clinically driven based on patient information to the best of the ability that the call taker is able to get from the callers and certainly I’m aware of systems that do allow some of that information to be shipped over electronically to shave some of the time off the call.” Ramey says it welcomes any recommendations that can help improve the system. “So it’s extremely important. Things like recommendation number 12, to look at the patient safety and learning system and recommendation number 11, to do ongoing and in depth reviews. The quality improvement and patient safety processes, to make sure those are enhanced and effective is the most important thing.”
Ramey says research indicates that anyone who lives above the 3rd floor is at a disadvantage for survival when suffering from cardiac arrest.
Click here to see the full review and list of recommendations.
