The President of CUPE Local 2974 says the risk of code blacks continuously occurring in Windsor-Essex County are potentially catastrophic.
James Jovanovic says a post shared to CUPE's Twitter page shows a staggering amount of ambulances at the Emergency Room entrance at the hospital during a day of code blacks on Monday.
The post states, "This is an Emergency Room entrance, not an ambulance base", and Jovanovic says they wanted the message of the Tweet to show how shocking it is to see the number of ambulances at the hospital.
This is an Emergency Room entrance, not an ambulance base
— CUPE Paramedics of Windsor-Essex (@CupeMedics2974) May 8, 2023
When we are all here, who’s out there to respond to your loved ones? @EssexWindsorEMS in level black = no ambulances available in @EssexCountyON
EMS in Ontario needs your attention@fordnation
@CACOMedic pic.twitter.com/LhEPrxbUqv
A code black is used when there are no ambulances available to respond to emergency calls because paramedics are waiting at a hospital to offload the patient.
He says that going into a code black could be detrimental if there were an incident where multiple ambulances are needed.
Jovanovic says the photo posted of ambulances sitting at the hospital is abnormal.
"When you look at that and you see that many ambulances lined up where they should be out on the road responding to calls, we wanted to emphasize that this was something that was abnormal and far from accessible. That there's a system in place right now, in health care, in Ontario, that is not functioning the way that it should, and that there are consequences of this."
Jovanovic says when there is a code black, is can make a situation dangerous.
"It could be a family outing in the minivan where if we don't have the resources to have enough paramedics respond to treat every single one of those involved, now you're triaging who is receiving care and who is not receiving care, and that can be detrimental."
He says there is a lot of attention on health care right now but he feels that Ontarians recognize it's not up to standards that are required.
"For the average taxpayer, you pay your taxes and you believe that you're receiving a certain level of service for that contribution. My opinion is that people are currently not receiving the level of service that they should be receiving, that they deserve to receive."
Jovanovic is reminding the public to call 911 if you need assistance.