RICHARD HUTTON/Niagara This Week
The decision to transport Reilly Anzovino to Welland County General Hospital was “appropriate,” one of the paramedics who tended to the Fort Erie teen said Friday.
And despite it taking almost 30 minutes for the ambulance with Anzovino aboard to leave the scene, it still fell under the guidelines for a “load and go” patient.
Cory Brunarski, an advance care paramedic with Niagara Emergency Medical Services, was in the rear of the ambulance as she was taken to Welland in the early hours of Dec. 27, 2009, and on Friday was testifying at the inquest into the death of 18-year-old, who died just as she reached hospital.
Anzovino was the passenger in a car driven by friend Molly Fairgrieve when the red Chevrolet Cavalier they were in spun out on an icy patch of Highway 3 at around 11:30 p.m. on Boxing Day. The vehicle was then struck on the passenger side by another vehicle. Anzovino died at about the same time she reached Welland County General Hospital.
Peter Pliszka, a lawyer representing Niagara EMS, asked if there was any discussion between himself and partner Brandon Mackay on where Reilly should be taken.
“I don’t recall the exact conversation but we were both comfortable (with the decision),” Brunarski said.
Brunarski maintained that Welland was the best option as the closest trauma hospital in Ontario was Hamilton General — more than 30 minutes from the accident scene.
Pliszka then asked Brunarski if Erie County Medical Centre in Buffalo was ever an option. Brunarski said that ECMC was also too far away.
“Was it more than 30 minutes away?” Pliszka asked.
“Yes,” Brunarski replied.
One of the issues the inquest is probing is whether or not the closures of Douglas Memorial Hospital in Fort Erie and Port Colborne General had an impact on the final outcome of the accident. To that end, Pliszka asked Brunarski if he had ever taken any trauma patients to either of those facilities in his career as a paramedic.
“I don’t recall exactly when, but I did transport a burn patient to Douglas Memorial,” Brunarski said.
Besides the questions from Pliszka, Brunarski was grilled all day Friday by former Fort Erie mayor Wayne Redekop, the lawyer representing Anzovino’s parents, Tim Anzovino and Denise Kennedy; coroner’s counsel Michael Blain; Andrea Cole, representing the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care as well as the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network,; Wendy Whalen, representing the Niagara Health System, and the Regional coroner presiding over the inquest, Dr. Jack Stanborough.
Throughout day the jury — made up of two men and three women — heard evidence concerning the care Reilly received the night of the accident.
Redekop focused on the closures of ERs in Port Colborne and Fort Erie in his cross-examination of Brunarski.
“Would either of these hospitals, had they had ERs, be deemed appropriate?” Redekop asked.
“They would be closer but I don’t know if that would mean they are appropriate,” Brunarski replied.
“If they had the same equipment (as Welland)? Redekop asked.
“Either one could have been,” Brunarski said.
Redekop also asked Brunarski if he had ever had any experience taking a patient to ECMC.
“No, but I have heard stories,” Brunarski said,
“So you have no first-hand knowledge,” Redekop said.
“That is right,” Brunarski answered.
Earlier, the jury had a chance to look inside a Niagara EMS ambulance. The idea was to give jurors an idea of the conditions paramedics face when treating a patient in the back of an ambulance.
Several other topics were covered in what was a grueling seven-hour testimony given by Brunarski.
He was asked about his experience with off-load delays — time spent by local paramedics outside emergency rooms at Niagara hospitals waiting for patients to be admitted.
He told the inquest that he has often had to wait an hour and that if an ER is busy, it could “be up to four hours.”
In her questions to Brunarski, Cole asked if he was aware off-load delays were a provincewide problem.
“Yes,” Brunarski said. “I have been to Hamilton and have seen there are delays there, too.”
In follow up questioning, Pliszka asked Brunarski, given the time it took to leave the scene, if Anzovino was regarded as a “load and go” patient.
“She was regarded the whole time as a load and go patient,” Brunarski said.
Brunarski said the ambulance took some time to leave — about 16 minutes — as he wanted to start an intravenous treatment on Reilly.
When asked by Redekop if the procedure could have been done while the ambulance was on route to the hospital, Brunarski said that the procedure would have been possible but extremely difficult due to the rough ride.
“Have you ever ridden in the back of an ambulance?” he asked Redekop.
The inquest resumes Monday at 9:30 a.m. at the Welland courthouse.
Bullet News Niagara and Niagara This Week have teamed up to provide our readership with extensive and in-depth coverage of the Anzovino inquest. To read previous stories, click on the links below:
DAY 1: An emotional day in court as Anzovino inquest gets underway
DAY 3: Paramedic tells of delays, ‘nerve-racking’ ride to hospital
