EMS has released a statement following a longer than normal wait time involving a local resident.

 Vic Neufeld and his wife Beth were at home when Beth fell. 

Beth Neufeld suffers from a condition known as Myotonic dystrophy. The condition causes progressive muscle wasting and weakness.

Vic Neufeld said Beth was walking down the hallway, lost her balance and fell. 

" I came running down the hallway to check on her and put a pillow under her head and called 911. The operator said an ambulance was on the way."

Fifteen minutes passed before Vic called again and then called again at the thirty-minute mark. Eventually, the fire department showed up and started accessing Beth.

It was an hour before EMS would arrive and Vic said he is not impressed with the level of response time.

"There is no way we should wait an hour for an ambulance to show up in Airdrie. We have to deal with EMS often because of my wife's disability, and this is the first time we have had to wait an hour. Most times its 10-15 minutes."

Beth Neufeld suffered two broken legs from the fall.

" She broke her leg above the knee on the right side and broke the leg just below the knee on the left. She laid there for forty-five minutes screaming in agony and I couldn't do anything for her."

After Beth was safely transported to the hospital Vic Neufeld received a call from an EMS representative.

" Yesterday I got a call from EMS and he said that they were sorry for the incident and are going to investigate what happened. Then he asked me how the service was when they showed up? I said it doesn't matter how the service was when they showed up. You guys failed when I called 911. They said they have it set up it departments on how to access the service. If you call 911 and they don't show up, they automatically failed. 

Beth Neufeld is currently in the hospital at Peter Lougheed with two splints on her legs. She is receiving pain medication when needed

Air 106.1 reached out to EMS and received this statement from Nicholas Thain, Executive Director, EMS Operations. 

"Every patient deserves high-quality health care any time they call for help.

While we make every effort to respond as quickly and safely as possible to all patients, Alberta Health Services EMS prioritizes calls based on medical urgency. Sometimes, that means it may take an ambulance a little longer to respond to less urgent calls in order to respond to emergencies like life-threatening events, heart attacks or trauma.

We know this can be frustrating for patients waiting for medical assistance and we appreciate any and all feedback we receive.

AHS takes all patient concerns extremely seriously. We have connected with the patient and are currently reviewing this situation to better understand what happened."

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