Injured junior player waits on ice for close to an hour for ambulance

Concern is being expressed in a BC Community after an injured hockey player waited on the ice for almost an hour for an ambulance to arrive.

In a game between the Vernon Vipers and Prince George Spruce Kings of the BC Hockey League, 19-year-old Will Blackburn fell into the boards and hit his head late in the third period. Given the potential for head, neck, and back injuries, officials decided to call an ambulance, and not move him until professionals arrived. That took close to 50 minutes.

"He's lying on the cold ice, and at that point, you know, the [hockey staff] were starting to get a little bit concerned about hypothermia as well as what could be another injury," league official Mike Hawes told CBC News.

In fact, despite several calls to 9-1-1, paramedics did not arrive until the game's announcer drove to the University Hospital of Northern BC and asked them for help at the ambulance bay.

"Unfortunately, I think that's kind of the way we ended up getting the paramedics to attend was the fact we sent one of our staff members up to the hospital to talk to them, face to face," Hawes added.

Blackburn got to hospital about an hour after the incident happened. He would end up being cleared later that night and was able to travel back home with his team. Hawes believes the situation could have ended in a much worse way, but doesn't blame the hospital or paramedics for the delay.

"I know it's in every community in the province, and it's something that hopefully can get sorted out. What if it was a much, much more serious injury?"

BC Emergency Health Services told CBC news that when the call first came in, it was rated "yellow", meaning no lights or sirens were necessary. That was upgraded to "orange" once the announcer showed up at the hospital.

The ending of the game was called off.

Source: CBC News

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