“I don’t know what happened to me, I passed out.”
That’s how Aira Khan described the aftermath of a frightening fall that sent her to hospital.
As the eight-year-old was reaching up to close a bathroom window she tumbled, landing hard on the tracking system of the shower.
Aira’s parents called 911. After waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, they called 911 again and were told one wasn’t available.
Aira’s father rushed her to emergency where doctors conducted a series of tests for possible internal injuries. Fortunately, she didn’t have any.
“I’m disappointed,” Troy Clifford, president of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC, said. “I’m wondering what it’s going to take for the ambulance service to really acknowledge the situations and know what they’re doing and the effects on our patients and the public.”
In a statement, BC Emergency Health Services said:
“On June 18 at that time, we were experiencing a high call volume and did not have an ambulance immediately available as paramedics were responding to time-critical and potentially life-threatening medical emergency calls.”
Clifford said there was a large number of out-of-service, unstaffed ambulances over the weekend. He said he received reports from paramedics that on Sunday night “up to 50 per cent of the ambulances were parked with no staff.”
The Khan family says they’re speaking out because they’re hoping the system can be improved.
As for little Aira, she’s still a bit sore, but is expected to make a full recovery.