A great cyclist, Philippe Reynolds was hiking with friends in Gatineau Park on Friday when, unfortunately, his shoe came off its pedal. The cyclist travels at about 50 km/h. He was violently thrown on the road. There was no doubt at that time that the intervention of the first responders was needed.
Once there was a fall, he could not move his friends and called emergency services and it took 1 hour 30 minutes before paramedics arrived at the scene.said Melanie Malouin, his wife.
According to Ms. Malouin, Philippe Reynolds had a concussion and multiple fractures. So in a fairly clear state of trauma he had to endure his cold problems.
Very long waiting period for a sick person. It could be worse, it could be fatalhe moaned.
Today, the father of the family is in the hospital. He must wait for one of his lungs to heal, before going under the knife, to make sure he can recover 100%.
Despite everything, his bad experience has pushed those around him to question the safety of Gatineau Park, which is managed by the National Capital Commission (NCC).
” There is a clear lack of methods in between NCC and emergency services. Why did it take so long? “
According to the Cooperative of Paramedics of the Outaouais (CPO), paramedics have to wait long minutes at the park entrance for an NCC employee to arrive and open the barrier blocking entry to motorized vehicles.
During an intervention at Gatineau Park, the NCC intervened with us and a meeting place was determined. Our ambulance went there. The NCC employee, meanwhile, went straight to the patient’s bedsideexplanation of the head of operations of CPOLaurie Vaillancourt.
Enough steps?
Usually, paramedics have a key to open the barrier, but the device will not work that day.
Equipment failure at the P3 parking lot barrier caused paramedics to delay access to the parkways. Following this event, the NCC put in place a protocol to regularly inspect the equipmentjustified the NCC by e-mail, then reject our request for an interview.
The NCC wants to remind the public to be particularly careful when practicing activities at Gatineau Park and take into account the fact that emergency services are not nearby.added the state-owned company.
It should be noted that only 12 NCC conservation officers patrol all the land in the National Capital Region, almost 1,100 square kilometers of land.
Moreover, although Gatineau Park is geographically located in the territory of MRC-des-Collines, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has jurisdiction over walks such as where Mr. Reynolds.
These factors partly explain why the waiting time before help arrives is so long.
With information from Marie-Jeanne Dubreuil, Mohamed Tiéné and Julien David-Pelletier
Source: Radio-Canada
