Code Orange is one of many emergency codes recognized by health care centres across Canada.
It signalizes a major event or emergency resulting in multiple casualties — like a plane crash or a building collapse.
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“It’s multiple casualty victims at the same time, usually more than six and eight patients at the same time,” said Tarek Razek, MUHC chief of trauma services.
“It’s going to overwhelm your normal capacity unless you put in special procedures to handle that volume of critically ill patients who are going to come in at the same time.”
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Recently, a Code Orange was called for the deadly crash between a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos and a semi-truck that left 15 people dead at a remote Saskatchewan intersection.
“Although you cannot prepare for this to happen at any specific moment in time, it’s predictable, unfortunately, that these things occur,” Razek said.
In Montreal, one of the most significant events of a Code Orange was the 2006 Dawson College shooting.
READ MORE: Montreal prepares for a ‘Code Orange’ emergency with simulation
“We were fortunate in that we were able to respond well,” Razek said.
The biggest struggle? Many health care centres in Canada are already overloaded.
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“To absorb that kind of thing internally is a big challenge,” he said.
“The most important thing is communication between emergency services — police, EMS (Urgence-Santé in Quebec) and hospitals.”
Gap in the system
One of the main issues in the greater Montreal area is the transportation gap — the amount of time it takes to get a trauma patient to a hospital.
READ MORE: Hospitals put Code Orange into effect after plane crash lands in Halifax
Patients’ rights advocate Paul Brunet points out much still needs to be done to make sure people living in the regions are taken care of in emergency situations.
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“The problem occurs when you’re far from acute care units in the regions or other far away places, like it occurred in Saskatchewan. That’s a tragedy,” he told Global News.
Unlike many other cities in North America, Montreal does not have helicopter Medivac capabilities to transport people from the regions.
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“We do not have regular functioning helicopter services as most other major urban centres do,” Razek explained, adding the MUHC does not have a helipad.
“We have intermittent to almost no regular Medivac purposes.”
Razek explained trauma and injury is the number one cause of death for people under the age of 50.
READ MORE: Kelowna hospital calls Code Orange to deal with bus crash casualties
He noted that because Dawson is in downtown Montreal, victims were able to be quickly transported to hospital.
There is one exception: the Formula 1, which requires a Medivac service for the race to run and hires a private company to do so.
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