Hours after Perth’s grandmother, Georgina Wild, died alone on her couch while waiting for an ambulance, an elderly man also died of a suspected heart attack as WA’s ambulance crisis continues.
The Bellevue man in his 80s called triple-0 at 8:15 am. Sunday and complained of a stomachache.
He was categorized as a priority three patient, meaning paramedics should have arrived within an hour.
But it wasn’t until two hours later, at 10:08 am, that St John WA called the man to do a welfare check.
By this time, the man was experiencing chest pains and was upgraded to priority, Nine News reported.
When an ambulance finally arrived five minutes later, he was in the midst of what would turn out to be a fatal heart attack and died after arriving at the hospital.
St John WA confirmed to The West Australian that staff had been in contact with the man’s family.
“A formal investigation has been launched, and the family has been invited to be involved in this process,” a St John spokesman said.
This latest incident comes as St John WA CEO Michelle Fyfe is under siege for failing to activate critical employee protocols that would allow paramedics exposed to COVID but who tested negative for RATs to continue working while the grandmother of Perth, Georgina Wild, called for help.
Ms. Wild’s tragic death has prompted urgent action, and two independent investigations have been launched as her family demands answers.
Ms. Wild called triple-0 around 2:30 am on Sunday, complaining of chest pains.
An ambulance arrived two and a half hours later, but they were too late.
Mrs. Wild had died on her couch with the television still on.
Senior Police and WA Health officials will now be embedded in St. John to “assure the full weight of the government and the full resources of the government” will assist in the availability of ambulance services.
The announcement comes after Prime Minister Mark McGowan and Health Secretary Amber-Jade Sanderson criticized the nonprofit for two days for refusing to activate critical worker protocols or asking firefighters to drive ambulances.
Mr. McGowan announced Tuesday that firefighters will be called to drive ambulances to address the severe shortage of paramedics in the state.
Mr. McGowan said it was “clearly not acceptable” for Western Australians to wait hours for ambulances in emergencies when the benchmark response time was less than 15 minutes.
“We have passed on our concerns to St John about this, and it is clear that a series of meetings are taking place between the Government and St John in connection with this,” he said.
Earlier this year, a woman in her 70s who suffered back pain died at Busselton Hospital after being transported through St. John.
She is believed to be “urgent” on arrival, but 3 1/2 hours later, she was untreated as she rapidly deteriorated and died of a suspected heart attack.
One of the many unanswered questions in the case is whether the woman was still in the care of paramedics when she died and whether those paramedics were licensed or volunteers. The health minister has launched a seven-person investigation to get to the bottom of the tragedy.
That was followed by the death of a woman from a heart attack in Geraldton while waiting for an ambulance to arrive, despite the base being nearby.