By Craig Pearson
Windsor Star
Copyright 2007 Windsor Star
WINDSOR, Ontario — Dean Wilkinson, paramedic operations manager, talks to the media during a press conference at the Mercer Street ambulance station in Windsor on Monday.
The speeding Windsor ambulance sent to secondary inspection at the Detroit border last week was pulled over by random computer selection, a U.S. customs official said Monday.
“The vehicle was selected by the computer for an exam,” said Chief Ron Smith, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “It requires that another entry be made to close out the inspection.
“In this case, it was having the ambulance pull into secondary. They looked at the driver’s licence and put them right back on the road. It took all of three minutes.”
Smith said while occasionally other ambulances rushing with sirens and lights flashing have been sent briefly to secondary inspection before, this was the first time a computer randomly chose an emergency vehicle for an extra exam.
He said U.S. officials are now taking another look at the policy which does not allow border agents to override the computer selection in the case of emergency vehicles.
“That’s being reviewed by headquarters,” Smith said. “It’s the first time that’s actually happened.”
CAW union executive member Rick Laporte, 49, had already twice been revived after a heart attack as he was being sped to Henry Ford Hospital when his ambulance was pulled over at the tunnel. The driver ran inside to show ID.
CAW union Local 444 president Ken Lewenza, who spoke with Laporte Monday afternoon, said his colleague is recuperating well after successful surgery and is now back at Windsor Regional Hospital.
“He’s feeling good, he’s just really tired,” Lewenza said. “But he’s getting better.”
Lewenza called a computer pulling over an emergency vehicle for a random search “ridiculous” and reiterated his call for a full Windsor cardiac centre that has the capability for surgery beyond angioplasty procedures.
“Our healthcare system has to be reviewed, and this is an opportunity to do it,” Lewenza said. “The No. 1 question behind the border question is why do we have to cross the border in the first place?”
Essex-Windsor EMS managers held a press conference Monday to say that a review of the call indicates proper procedure was followed and that they are satisfied with U.S. border guard actions.
“The EMS vehicle was never searched by U.S. customs border agents nor was the patient asked any questions,” said Dean Wilkinson, EMS operations manager. “The whole trip from Windsor Regional Hospital to Henry Ford Hospital took less than 15 minutes.”
Wilkinson notes that a tunnel vehicle, not a police car, accompanied the ambulance, which is standard procedure.
He said Windsor ambulances have been rushing more and more patients to Detroit in recent years, and will likely bring 150 this year - most without incident. He said in the last couple of years, about 10 rushing ambulances have been sent to secondary inspection, usually for no more than five minutes.
“Our working relationship is very good,” he said. “I would hate to see that working relationship damaged because of one incident. There are too many pluses for the community.”
Laporte’s girlfriend Kat Lauzon disagrees that a three-minute delay is acceptable in an emergency.
“Rick could have died,” she said, noting that an on-board nurse expressed disbelief at the wait. “Somebody can say it was only three minutes, but that was three minutes of damage to Rick’s heart that can’t be undone.”
MP Brian Masse (NDP - Windsor West) thinks senior government must press harder on the issue.
“It requires a strong political signal from the Canadian government,” Masse said. “This is quite serious. To hear that it was a computer program dictating this is completely absurd.”
Masse also believes the province must now boost healthcare services in Windsor.
“We (the federal government) have increased medical transfer payments to the province of Ontario and we have a vulnerable community here that is subject to American interpretation of the border,” Masse said. “We need full independence. I don’t buy the excuse that it can’t be done.
“Dismissing it as a sheer numbers game is not acceptable.”