Hamilton
,
ON - May 17, 2006 - At approximately 1:10 p.m. today, the City of Hamilton experienced a critical shortage of ambulances. It appears that this shortage was the result of an unusual increase in the number of calls received at one time, not attributed to any one medical condition. By approximately 2:20 p.m. the service was restored to non-critical levels. Although ambulances are again available, a limited Emergency Control Group was called and has since stood down. At the time of the shortage, there were no ambulances available to respond. The situation will continue to be monitored.
As a result of the temporary shortage, Hamilton Emergency Services activated its contingency plan in order to utilize the services of firefighters to assist with patient care. In addition, ambulance services from Cambridge, Halton, Niagara, and Brant were placed on stand-by and ready to service the border areas. All volunteer fire stations were up-staffed. Tiered response criteria were expanded to include firefighters responding to include urgent calls, as well as the normal emergency calls. Additional paramedic staff were called and hospital administrators were notified.
Under normal conditions, 18 ambulances and three paramedic response units respond to daytime calls.
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Media Contacts:
Brent Browett
Director/Deputy EMS
Hamilton Emergency Services 905 961-9131