Last Wednesday was the hottest day that I can remember, as the whole northeast of the continent broiled in a glorious heatwave. For the very first time in my life, my car thermometer read 40º, but I'll never complain, bring it on!
I decided to cut out of work early to enjoy the sun and went over to the beautiful new Adonis supermarket in the Place Vertu shopping centre (in Montreal) before going home, to pick up a few things. As I exited my car, a fire engine screeched to halt at the store's entrance and a group of firemen raced inside. I followed at a more leisurely pace, not wishing to appear a thrill chaser. I presently came upon them, ministering to a woman who was laid out prone on the floor in the produce aisle between the lettuce and the potatoes.
I watched the scene for a few minutes and discussed the situation with other rubberneckers who came to the consensus that she had suffered an epileptic seizure.
Finally, bored at the lack of action, I left the scene to callously continue my shopping and after about ten minutes of placing food in my carriage, I noticed that the saga of the woman on the floor continued. After paying for my groceries and on my way out, it occurred to me that the real paramedics, Montreal's infamous URGENCES SANTÉ had never shown up and it was almost fifteen since the firemen had arrived! What the Heck!!
As I pulled out of the parking lot, I saw an ambulance finally approaching, but it seemed in no particular hurry.
Now the mall is smack dab in the middle of a large urban neighbourhood and traffic was light, so I don't know what their excuse was, but it had me wondering what would have been had it been a heart attack........
Ah!......the joys of Montreal.
Does anyone of you have any good or bad experiences to recount?
Très bon site. Je vous remercie du travail en Juillet...
ReplyDeleteThat's what happens when you block up the city streets with bike paths, and road repairs on a heavy demand day.
ReplyDeleteC'mon! What are you griping about? It was hot and causing them to rush may have resulted in THEIR getting a stroke or heart attack...or being overtired. Have you no compassion? Besides, they're unionized, well overpaid and you have real chutzpah expecting them to do their jobs. The union will protect them even if that woman dies.
ReplyDeleteThis is where Jr. Péladeau who you wrote about with great reverence yesterday has merit--Quebec labour legislation coupled with the union movement makes for inefficient, underproductive lazy asses who get away with murder and discourage those willing to work hard from doing so. The hard work rarely pays off compared to the layabouts.
In Quebec, it doesn't pay to invest. Employers take all the grief from lazy, imcompetent employees and landlords from deadbeat, dirty tenants. Too many unearned entitlements for the slackers and deadbeats, too many laws going against the risktakers in Quebec, just like Greece (according to one Greek woman's analogy of how things work in Greece). Corrupt system, too many unearned entitlements, and look where Greece is now! In Quebec, the mob and biker gangs control the illegal lucrative business, lazy civil service asses retire on a very generous, fully indexed pension by their mid-50s if they've worked there since finishing school and bad tenants screw landlords left, right and center.
This is a major reason why I don't mind if Quebec separates. Too many fat cats while the rest of Canada works too hard to support them.
During this heat wave, there was an increase of 20% of calls to urgences santé. I can understand if response time has increasd, sometimes these ambulances are arriving from far away because of other calls. If this wasn't an true emergency as could be the case because the first responders arrived and determined what condition this women was in, then I can understand why this particular U-S crew took their time.
ReplyDeleteCheers
*Ahem*
ReplyDeleteParamedics do NOT exist in Quebec. Urgences Sante personnel are merely "ambulance technicians", not paramedics. What's the difference? They're not trained or qualified to perform many life saving techniques or medical procedures, nor can they administer many of the life saving medications and drugs so essential in a medical emergency. Or other words, they are GLORIFIED TAXI DRIVERS.
Quebec is the ONLY region in North America and civilized world to NOT have paramedics. I'm sure on the other hand, they have to pass strict and rigorous French language exams though. I mean, what's more important, saving a person's life, or speaking and filling out forms in proper French? We're in Quebec, you know the answer to that.
Yeah, welcome to the third world. Welcome to Quebec!
HAHA
DeleteSorry for the delay with the reply, just read your post and made me realize that I live around people who are very misinformed. Specialy concerning Paramedics: they might not be called paramedics here in Quebec (they are called Technicien ambulancier paramedical) but they do the same thing and even more than paramedics in other provinces or states. And by the way we also have advanced care paramedic in the city of montreal. They do give drugs, defibrilation( yes yes we can do that too) and intubated. Wow we do alot of things .......
Maybe you should get your facts straight before saying anything so you dont look too stupid ;)
Sorry if mispelled word or sentences, i'm what you would called a French Paramedic from the third world
Maybe you should do some research before making statements. Quebec has paramedics, all are trained to at least the same level as the rest of Canada, that is to the level of Primary Care Paramedic as determined by the Canadian Medical Assoc. in fact with the addition of intubation by way of a double-lumin tube (combitube) all paramedics in Quebec have above the minimum level of training as precribed for that level. in addition Montreal has a small groupd of Advanced Care Paramedics, who again are actually trained to a higher level then required by the CMA. Again, in fact all primary care paramedics in quebec are trained and permitted to administer 5 medications to patients without first contacting a medical doctor to request permission (unlike nurses)
DeleteMitch, it is people like YOU who are the problem in the Health Care world.
DeleteYou are so misinformed its sad.
How dare you call the PARAMEDICS in Quebec "Taxi Drivers"? The only reason they are not called Paramedics is because the term has not become official. If you are going to call PARAMEDICS taxi drivers, why not call nurses "glorified baby sitters"? After all, they dont do as much as Doctors, right?
PARAMEDICS transport trauma victims and perform life saving procedures ranging from myocardial infarction, car accidents, strokes and even simply psychological incidents.
Before you run your mouth off about what you think paramedics do, go spend a day with them.
For your information, there exist PARAMEDICS in Quebec who ARE A.L.S certified, but it is because of closed minded FOOLS like yourself that no one else is recognized for their work. I hope you dont complain when they come to your home when you've had a heart attack. Based on your closed minded comments, you probably believe that eating heaps of trans and saturated fats are good for you.
Enjoy your heart attack...
Mitch, things have changed in the Quebec emergency medical system. A few years ago, Quebec created the pre-hospital emergency care program at a few cegeps (including John Abbott). This 3 year program is graduating paramedics that will be entering Urgences Santé in the masses. Urgences Santé is looking to hire paramedics en masse to fill in the void for the next 5 years! Slowly, Quebec is catching up to the rest of Canada.
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about the pilot project to create and train real paramedics in Quebec? Last update I heard, and this is just several weeks ago, the whole project fell through and was CANCELED. If you search the Montreal Gazette archives you'll see an article about it.
ReplyDeleteThis is much like animal inspectors in Quebec, they keep promising they're going to hire and train more, yet at present, we have what, 2, maybe 5 now? For the entire province of Quebec! Ontario has them in the *hundreds*. Why? They're a progressive province, we're a third world "nation".
Bottomline: As of today, July 12, 2010, there are NO paramedics working in Urgence Sante. That's a danger to society, and if the government were serious about the situation they could bring in outside paramedics tomorrow if they wanted to. Oh wait, they might not speak French! Oh the horrors! Come on, how hard is it to implement something so bloody simple?
I volunteer my time as a first responder in CSL. I can tell you that yes, there are paramedics and even 'advanced care paramedics' (known as 'paramedic - soins avancés'). I see paramedics very often on calls.
ReplyDeleteTo Mitch said July 12, 2010 2:39 AM: I suggest you this website http://www.paramedicduquebec.org/- Sorry it's only in french ! ''Quebec is the ONLY region in North America and civilized world to NOT have paramedics. I'm sure on the other hand, they have to pass strict and rigorous French language exams though. I mean, what's more important, saving a person's life, or speaking and filling out forms in proper French? We're in Quebec, you know the answer to that.
ReplyDeleteYeah, welcome to the third world. Welcome to Quebec! '' Vous êtes vraiment un type manquant d'envergure, what's that expression ''civilized world'' ? You think you're at the time of colonization ? You bigot and zealot fanatic ! Vive le Québec libre et pourquoi pas Mc Gill français !
What is this I keep reading about "Mc Gill français"? BTW, the name of the university is McGill, not Mc Gill.
ReplyDeleteCan you give me ONE good reason why - in terms of its quality, reputation, funding, history and its place among other universities - that McGill should be francisized? And please do not say, "Because it is in Quebec."
Proof that Quebec claims it will do something progressive, and then backs out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.montrealgazette.com/M%C3%A9tro+deal+back+drawing+board/3272804/story.html
Hah, paramedics are coming to Quebec, like new metro cars are coming to the STM. Carrot on a stick.
"Yeah, welcome to the third world. Welcome to Quebec! '' Vous êtes vraiment un type manquant d'envergure, what's that expression ''civilized world'' ? You think you're at the time of colonization ? You bigot and zealot fanatic ! Vive le Québec libre et pourquoi pas Mc Gill français !"
ReplyDelete...really? Please tell me you are in your 50s and retiring. I love French as a language and believe it should be taught - there are many bilingual and multilingual nations. But the nonsense of separation without any thought to economics, jobs, etc... is simply stupid. If you did not know that QC is a HAVE NOT province, i.e. in debt. you cannot sustain yourself and the government bureaucracy is disgustingly inefficient. McGill Francais -- I bet you did not even get in, and education should not be jeopardized for a very discriminate effort of preserving culture.
I have read your comments and understood your point of views and perceptions but until you know what the reality of emergency services are, until you understand the entire system, I find it very sad that people judge without knowledge, just based on what they see or think they know but not on what facts are. We all judge quickly, it's part of our human nature and sometimes, by doing so, we spread out what we think is the truth but is so far from reality. take care.
ReplyDelete