Saved by the bell
By Rachel Mendleson - Monday, December 7, 2009 - 244 Comments
The firefighter’s job is changing as ever more medical calls come in
Every pump truck in Winnipeg has a cross-trained firefighter-paramedic
“Maisie,” an elderly Toronto woman whose chain smoking often leaves her gasping for air, is so well-known to the firefighters at the nearby station that when her address is announced on the loudspeaker, they all bellow her name. They lumber up the dark stairwell to her squalid apartment as often as three or four times a night. On this particular occasion, they listen to her breathing and give her oxygen. After the paramedics arrive, her colour improves. She signs a waiver, refusing to allow EMS to take her to hospital. On his way out, the fire hall captain empties an ashtray, and places a few dirty dishes in the sink.
While firefighters may be known more for their courage than caregiving, the reality, says Susan Braedley, a post-doctoral fellow at York University’s Institute for Health Research, is “they’re doing more emergency medical care than anything else.” In 2006, 52 per cent of calls to the Toronto Fire Service were medical in nature—a statistic that prompted Braedley to spend 10 months observing the city’s firefighters. Her research, which includes the visit to Maisie’s home, is slated for publication by the McGill Queens University Press next spring in a book entitled Neoliberalism and Everyday Life. According to Braedley, the “accidental assignment of some health care provision” to firefighters has been brought on by several factors: better fire prevention, which has freed up firefighters for other tasks; aging baby boomers; a dearth of family doctors, which has forced marginalized populations to use 911 as a way into the system. It’s a shift that has been subtle and the source of conflict. The result, however, is clear: in municipalities across Canada, what it means to be a firefighter is changing significantly.
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The heart of the matter
By Katie Engelhart - Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 8:40 AM - 1 Comment
Why surviving cardiac arrest in Canada is so difficult
Think you’re at risk for cardiac arrest? Consider a move to Vancouver. Or, if you can swing it, aim to settle in Seattle. Canada’s national survival rate for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests is less than comforting: under five per cent, says the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSF). But while the risk of cardiac arrest is the same across the country, the likelihood of survival is not.When someone in Toronto has a cardiac arrest outside the hospital and receives emergency medical services treatment, the chance he will live to tell the tale is 5.5 per cent, according to a report published by the American Medical Association. But if the same person lives in Vancouver, his likelihood of living is nearly twice as high: 9.7 per cent. And he’d be better off yet if he lived in the cardiac champion of cities: Seattle, which reigns over North America at 16.3 per cent. These regional variations expose a host of deficiencies in Canada’s approach to cardiac arrest, the nation’s leading cause of death. What is surprising is, many of the failures come in to play not in the ambulance or the ER—but on the street, before paramedics even arrive. Continue…
