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The seriously injured woman waited, surrounded by neighbors, for about half an hour before an ambulance arrived.
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June 7, 2022 • 1 hour ago • 5 minutes reading • 24 comments Betty Ann was the victim of a deadly dog attack in Calgary on Sunday. Photo of GoFundMe
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The elderly woman who was fatally attacked by three dogs on Sunday afternoon is remembered as an avid gardener whose personality was “bigger than life.”
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“Many will miss Rusty. We would like to thank the City of Calgary for their condolences,” said Heather Johnson in a GoFundMe campaign organized to help the family with funeral expenses.
Police say the 86-year-old woman, identified in the fundraiser by her first name, Betty Ann, and her most commonly used nickname, Rusty, was fatally assaulted while tending the garden of her home on Capitol Hill. from 2 p.m. after his neighbor. the dogs escaped from the backyard. Since then, the three dogs have been captured by the city and are believed to be a mixture of American pit bull terrier, a mixture of American Staffordshire and an American pit bull.
Betty Ann was a veteran and cancer survivor, recently in remission, and her family remembers her as a “small but strong woman.”
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“She was ready to live her golden years without cancer,” Johnson said.
The fundraiser says she lived on Capitol Hill for 50 years, always very proud of her home and “especially her garden.” Most recently, Rusty lived in the house with his niece, with whom Johnson said he had an amazing bond.
After the attack, Betty Ann leaned against a garage door in her alley for about half an hour before an ambulance arrived. His home on 21st Avenue NW is less than a 10-minute drive from Foothills Medical Center, where he eventually died. Neighbors said they saw a couple of ambulances pass by for other calls while they waited next to Betty Ann.
“The disbelief and the shock (are) impressive. It took an impressive 35 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, when they did it was (too) late for Rusty,” Johnson said.
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Alley behind the 2100 block of 15 NW Street where the attack took place last Sunday. Photo by Darren Makowichuk / Postmedia
Alberta Health Services on Monday launched an investigation into the long response time. On Tuesday, AHS told Postmedia that its review found that the 911 call was initially classified as non-life-threatening, resulting in a 30-minute delay between the call and the paramedic’s response.
AHS said dispatchers had classified the incident for police response based on information provided by the caller. According to details provided to the EMS by police, they believed it was not life threatening and did not immediately send an ambulance to the scene along with the police.
“When the CPS arrived at the scene, they notified the EMS that the patient’s injuries were serious,” AHS said in a written statement.
“EMS immediately sent an ambulance, which arrived at the scene nine minutes later. This tragic incident occurred at a time of very high EMS call volumes. However, once the call was considered ‘high priority, an ambulance was sent immediately.
“AHS is discussing these findings further with the EMS and will contact CPS to identify any further learning from this tragic incident.”
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Based on AHS findings, Health Minister Jason Copping’s office said the minister was “relieved to hear that the AHS initial review confirms that there were no undue delays in EMS response “.
“It doesn’t change the fact that this death was a terrible tragedy, nor the need to address the tension over the EMS,” said Steve Buick, Copping’s press secretary.
“We must continue to support the EMS and add the necessary resources until we get back to the response times within the AHS targets, where they were until last summer, when volumes increased by up to 30 percent.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the union representing Alberta paramedics criticized the systemic problems that led to the wait.
The Alberta Health Sciences Association said the incident is an example of major problems with how ambulance services have been managed in the province. HSAA President Mike Parker said ambulance waits of up to an hour are a daily occurrence in Alberta.
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“We go through this level of no units available on a daily basis…. , adding that people often wait 45 minutes or an hour for paramedics.
“This is every day and our members are absolutely devastated to the point that they are leaving the industry.”
While the province recently announced plans to bolster EMS services across the province, a move that will put four more ambulances on Calgary’s roads by the end of June and another five by the end of September, Parker said more to relieve the immediate tension that paramedics suffer. . He said there would be a high cost to significantly improve EMS services across the province, “probably a massive amount of money.”
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“Cause and effect; You’re starving this system into a total mess, where the public isn’t confident that they won’t even get an ambulance, and unfortunately they’re very right,” he said.
“It’s not behind the paramedics who are doing everything they can. It’s in a system that has failed, even though we’ve been talking about it for 10 years, I don’t know.”
NDP health critic David Shepherd said he was horrified and upset when he learned of the incident and the ambulance delay. He said the province’s ambulance and hospital systems have been pushed to the “breaking point”.
“This situation has become dangerously common and the response times in Calgary in 2022 are the slowest in history,” he said, calling on Health Minister Jason Copping to take responsibility for his “catastrophic mismanagement.” of the health care system “.
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Alison Jardine puts flowers at the scene on Tuesday. Photo by Jim Wells / Postmedia
‘Much love’
On Monday evening, a small monument began to form in front of the garage where Betty Ann was attacked. Next to a small statue of an angel are bouquets of flowers. A note attached to the effigy says, “We’ll miss you Rusty, a lot of love.”
Alison Jardine, who lives in nearby Mount Pleasant, moved to bring flowers to the scene of the deadly attack.
“I myself am an avid gardener and it affected me a lot,” said Jardine, who has lived in the area for about 25 years.
“The fact that the ambulance took so long to get there only makes you feel a little insecure in your own neighborhood.”
Calgary police criminal investigation into the incident continues. Depending on what this investigation reveals, police say the dog owner could face charges such as negligence that caused death or a felony. The dogs remain in custody while the investigation continues; they could be euthanized.
City Hall said officers who attended the scene were given free time.
Since 2000, there have been at least two fatal dog attacks in the Calgary area, both involving dog owners or their families. A newborn child was killed by the family husky in Airdrie in 2012 and a 50-year-old woman from the Langdon area was killed in 2018 while trying to protect a small child from the family dog.
mrodriguez@postmedia.com
Twitter: @michaelrdrguez
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