CBC News
NEW BRUNSWICK, Canada — The union that represents P.E.I. paramedics is upset with a new rule that restricts the speed of ambulances in the Maritimes.
Island EMS introduced the change in November, but the union says it’s not working.
Even with sirens blaring, P.E.I. ambulances have to watch their speed. Island EMS first introduced a cap on how fast they can go four years ago, and the rule was revised again in November.
“One hundred and 20 going down University Avenue is not safe,” Craig Pierre, general manager of Island EMS, told CBC News on Friday.
“We’ve determined that in that area, they would be allowed to go say 20 kilometres an hour over in best conditions.”
Bill MacKinnon of CUPE, which represents Island paramedics, said they believe the new policy endangers patients without increasing driving safety.
“I’ve spoken to paramedics all over the Island,” said MacKinnon.
“Aside from intersection accidents, they couldn’t come up with a single case where an accident that was speed-related occurred with an ambulance on Prince Edward Island in emergency situations with lights and sirens activated.”
MacKinnon fears a repeat on P.E.I. of what happened Thursday night in New Brunswick. An elderly woman was having trouble breathing. On the way there, a paramedic asked the dispatcher three times to break the speed protocol that’s now in place.
The request was denied and the woman stopped breathing before the ambulance arrived.
“These people are trained with a phrase that says time is tissue, and what that means is that the more time you waste, the more tissue that risks to be lost,” said MacKinnon.
Craig Pierre said Island EMS will stand by the change.
“If they have an accident along the way or a collision along the way, they really don’t get to the scene. So what kind of a risk do you put the patient at?” he said.
CUPE has requested a meeting with Health Minister Carolyn Bertram in the hopes she will overrule the policy.
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