AHS says 911 call about fatal dog attack was initially classified as 'non-life-threatening'

Alberta Health Services says it has completed an investigation into why it took 30 minutes for an ambulance to respond after dogs fatally attacked an 86-year-old woman in Calgary's Capitol Hill neighbourhood on Sunday. 

Police and paramedics who were called to the scene in the city's northwest found the injured woman who was taken to hospital and later died.

Alberta Health Services, which runs emergency medical services, said in a statement that the initial 911 call was sent to police based on the information provided from the scene.

Spokesperson James Wood said the call was initially triaged as non-life-threatening, but police notified EMS when they arrived on scene that the patient's injuries were serious.

Wood says EMS then dispatched an ambulance, which arrived nine minutes later.

"This tragic incident occurred at a time of very high EMS call volumes," he said. "However, once the call was deemed high priority, an ambulance was dispatched immediately.

"AHS is discussing these findings further within EMS and will reach out to [Calgary police] to identify any further learnings from this tragic incident."

Steve Buick, a spokesperson for Health Minister Jason Copping, said the minister was "relieved" to hear that the AHS investigation confirmed there was no undue delay in the EMS response.

In a statement to CBC News, Buick said it appeared the initial call did not indicate that the incident was urgent, but that AHS responded appropriately when they received more information. 

"It doesn't change the fact that this death was a terrible tragedy, or the need to address the strain on EMS," said Buick. 

"We need to keep supporting EMS and adding whatever resources are needed until we get response times back within AHS's targets, where they were until last summer when volumes surged by up to 30 per cent."