А у нас в квартире газ, а у вас?

А у нас пора отменить профсоюзы. Всю зиму то живем без автобусов, то лето мусорное, вся страна парализована via rail strike и вот это тоже из недавних новостей. О, да, Revenue Canada идут на забастовку в ближайшее время - хоть бы они с нее не возвращались, заколебали налогами.

Strike did not delay paramedics, chief says

Took 35 minutes to reach dying man, witness said

Allison Hanes, National Post Published: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

It took an ambulance only nine minutes to arrive at the Alexander Street apartment building where strangers were trying to revive a dying Jim Hearst, but paramedics sat outside waiting for police because of an undisclosed "health and safety" concern.

Bruce Farr, the chief of Toronto Emergency Medical Services (EMS), offered this account yesterday of the June 25 incident -- three days into a strike by city workers, including paramedics -- to reassure the public that the labour disruption did not result in Mr. Hearst's death from an apparent heart attack.

EMS is an essential service and has been operating at 75% capacity, with non-priority calls being referred to Tele-Health and delays in response time to lesser emergencies.

But Chief Farr said paramedics arrived at the scene within the requisite nine minutes and were following policy by waiting outside for police.

"When the call came in, the crew received information that raised their concerns for their own health and safety, and police were simultaneously dispatched. Upon arrival at the scene, the crew awaited for the arrival of the police," he said.

"Once the crew received another update with new information indicating that the patient wasn't breathing, they put aside their own health and safety concerns and acted immediately on that information and went in to the scene."

An investigation is under way, but may take longer because of the strike, Chief Farr acknowledged.

However, the official explanation does not mesh with the recollections of one person who tried in vain to aid the 59-year-old small business owner that night.

Manuel Rodriguez, a laid-off hotel worker who lives in the same well-kept high-rise a block east of Yonge Street, said his roommate ran outside to check and could find no ambulance in the 35 minutes they waited at Mr. Hearst's side for help to arrive.

Mr. Rodriguez said firefighters were the first to arrive at the scene, sauntering in casually "like teenagers," as he described it, telling the people already performing CPR to continue.

Another three or four minutes elapsed before paramedics entered accompanied by police, he said.

"By that time it was already too late. Even I knew he was dead with the signals that he showed. They said, 'Oh, it's too late.' I was like, 'What do you mean too late? You guys arrived late.' "

Mr. Rodriguez said that by his count, 45 minutes passed between the time the three witnesses, who found Mr. Hearst sprawled in the apartment lobby conscious and bleeding from the head, placed the first emergency call and the paramedics' arrival.

Mr. Rodriguez, who arrived five minutes later, said he does not know what they might have said to indicate a threat.

Chief Farr would not disclose what gave the responding paramedics the impression their safety was at risk, but said of the policy: "It's a protocol whereby if the paramedic crew feels that their safety could be in jeopardy based on the call received, information they're getting from their dispatcher, they can choose to await the arrival of the police.

"If it's a fight in progress, an assault in progress, a person with a weapon, that kind of information fed back to the paramedic crew, they can decide to await the arrival of police."

The official explanation raised more questions than it answered yesterday for Mr. Hearst's partner.

"I really have no clue what that means about their safety," said Alejandro Martinez Ramirez, the deceased man's spouse of eight years.

"The neighbourhood I live in is quite safe. I don't know what was keeping them from giving help to someone who was dying."

Mr. Martinez Ramirez, who was in New York when Mr. Hearst died, wants to hear the tape of his partner's final moments.

But the number he was given to call is closed for the duration of the strike by 30,000 civic workers.

Whether his partner's death was caused by the labour stoppage or not, Mr. Martinez Ramirez said he is only looking for one thing.

"I just don't want this to happen to someone else."

ЗАБАСТОВКУ ОТМЕНИЛИ
7 июля 2009

Сразу признаюсь, я тоже внесла свои деньги в этот финансовый рекорд онтарийских торговцев спиртным. Не так уж много, но все же. Ожидались гости к выходным и нужно было пополнить запасы домашнего бара парой бутылок белого вина. Мы дома предпочитаем красное. Но в летнюю жару больше спрос на белое, которое подают холодным...
Полки ближайшего магазина, куда заехала, поражали своей опустошенностью. А народу в «винюшнике», как именую эти магазины, было, как перед Рождеством.
Однако народ не сметал с полок шампанское и прочие игристые вина, как перед святым праздником, а загружался в основном крепкими напитками, вроде коньяка и водки. Сама такого не наблюдала, но в одной из канадских газет увидела сегодня фото: слово «vodka» на фоне пустых полок какого-то магазина LCBO.
Но лично видела, как люди просто загружали тележки бутылками.
А еще писали, что в иных магазинах покупатели по часу стояли в очереди, чтоб закупить вино и прочее спиртное.
Их настойчивость запастись спиртным стала рекордом. Онтарийцы в тот один день купили в магазинах LCBO выпивки на 60 миллионов долларов. Никогда, даже перед Рождеством, ранее не было такого спроса на спиртную продукцию, признали в LCBO .
Времена меняются. Нравы тоже. Во времена экономического застоя, как сейчас, и ранее отмечался повышенный спрос на спиртное. Алкоголь утешал людей. Коктейль «кровавая мэри» - водка с томатным соком – был придуман в Нью-Йорке в тридцатые годы во времена «великой депрессии»...
Но и теперь в Канаде люди кинулись скупать спиртное, как перед потопом, и не только шампанское, как перед свадьбами.
У продавцов магазинов не было нормального оплачиваемого отпуска, а также бенефитов на случай болезни. Начало забастовки сначала отложили, а потом сообщили, что ее совсем не будет.
Стороны договорились. Детали их соглашения не оглашаются. Но жители Онтарио могут успокоиться – недостатка в спиртном не будет, зря иные люди часами стояли в очереди за вином.
Одна надежда - запасы, сделанные накануне, тоже не пропадут...

Автор: Людмила Белецкая