Audio records from a security company indicate Toronto EMS took about 30 minutes to respond to a heart attack call, a delay that turned out to be fatal for a 59-year-old man.

James Robert Hearst, a small-business owner, died on June 25 in the lobby of his 40 Alexander St. apartment building.

Security company Intelligarde keeps its own audio record of emergency calls made by its personnel. Its timeline corresponds to allegations by witnesses that said EMS took 30 minutes to respond.

The breakdown of the tape:

  • 11:08 p.m. Resident Manuel Rodriguez contacts building security about Hearst's condition. He also calls 911.
  • 11:12 p.m. Guard arrives on scene
  • 11:17 Guard calls her dispatch officer to say  "man is turning blue" and is patched through to EMS. Guard is told "Help is on the way."
  • 11:29: Guard calls EMS again, reports Hearst has stopped breathing
  • 11:35 Guard speaks to EMS again, says Heart has no pulse
  • 11:45 EMS arrives at 40 Alexander Street

Paramedics are technically on strike with an estimated 24,000 other city workers, but staffing has to be maintained at a 75-per-cent level. They are represented by CUPE Local 416, the outside workers. The dispatchers are represented by Local 79, the inside workers.

EMS's view

On Tuesday, the head of Toronto EMS said there was no link between the man's death to the strike.

"... In this particular case, the information received from the caller indicated this was not a life-threatening call," Chief Bruce Farr told reporters.

Farr said paramedics arrived within nine minutes, but health and safety issues prevented them from entering.

Farr wouldn't elaborate on what health and safety issues kept the paramedics from providing treatment. "It's all part of our investigation ... with the crew and what they heard from the dispatcher at the time the call was given to them," he said.

Farr couldn't say how long the paramedics sat outside the building, again saying it was part of the investigation. He couldn't say what time they specifically entered the building. He didn't know how many updates the crew received or how many 911 calls came in about Hearst.

Neighbours said there was nothing going on that would indicate a safety concern for the paramedics.

Farr said the initial call gave no indication that the man had a heart attack and paramedics immediately responded when the situation was updated.

"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 into the scene," Farr said.

EMS is still waiting to talk to one of the paramedics involved in the call.

Farr didn't attend the city's media briefing on the strike. He said he wasn't asked to attend. City officials there only said this matter is under investigation.

One advocate agrees the strike might not have been a factor.

"Clearly, a timeline that runs 45 minutes in the city of Toronto for first responders on the scene is not appropriate, and if bad decisions were made along the chain, it may have had nothing to do with this strike," Brian Patterson of the Ontario Safety League told CTV Toronto on Wednesday.

He wants the coroner's office to investigate Hearst's death.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Galit Solomon