Dear Editor:
RE: Time to act is now, Sept. 5.
In a preamble to her letter Liz Armstrong writes about a conflict of interest situation between ambulance services operated by funeral homes sometimes leaving the injured behind in favour of picking up deceased victims.
I found her comments interesting since I used to work for such a service “decades ago.”
Contrary to what she implies, it was illegal for an ambulance to be used to transport dead bodies. In fact, at that time only the coroner could officially declare a person dead at an accident scene and the body could not be moved until this was done.
The local police were the ones who called out the ambulance and they had a list of local firms they could count on for the job. If the activity she cites was rampant, it would be quickly known in the community and the funeral business would go under. No police officer or other first responder of my acquaintance would have tolerated such activity.
In smaller communities, funeral homes were often called on to remove victims’ remains but they did not use an ambulance to do so. At that time, strikes by ambulance crew were virtually unknown, compared to after the government took over.
I am not sure what all of this has to do with the main thrust of Armstrong’s letter: telling everyone how they must vote in October.
Hill Cox,
Caledon