SWAN Hill man David Edwards says the way emergency services failed his father in his final hour was “worse than disrespectful” and that he was “left to die”.
Alfred Edwards was 87 in January when he suffered what his family suspect to be a heart attack, and despite multiple calls from three members of the family and calls from local police, no one could get through to the ambulance for “easily half an hour”.
The Edwards family are yet to receive any explanation as to the cause of this fatal error and Mr Edwards, Alfred’s eldest son, said is “disappointed and more than angry”.
Alfred was a truck driver, an army tank driver and worked in security in the Port of Melbourne authority for 20 years, and had retired to Bunnaloo in NSW and spent his time between the town and Swan Hill for the next two decades, with his wife of more than 60 years, Joan.
“He had cancer but he was doing really well,” Mr Edwards told The Guardian.
“He was getting more frail as he got older but nothing stopped him, he still drove and kept very active.
“He was very funny and he was a stirrer.
“He’d come into town to get his beer and the girls all loved him.”
Around 10am on the January 5, Alfred went to move a trailer at his Swan Hill home and collapsed with a suspected heart attack.
His wife Joan found him on the ground and called her son David after not being able to get through to 000.
Mr Edwards and his partner Mary-anne then attempted to call multiple times but again it rang out.
They then drove around to the house.
“I know some first aid and he was unresponsive,” Mr Edwards said.
“I realised I’d left my phone at home so drove back and called from there and again no answer.
“I then called the police station and they called from an emergency line but still couldn’t get through.”
By the time Mr Edwards returned to his parents’ home, he decided to carry his unresponsive father inside out of the hot Swan Hill morning.
Two young police constables arrived about 10 minutes later.
“I guess he had passed at that point but I’m not an ambo,” Mr Edwards said.
“Five minutes later the ambulance arrived with the police sergeant
“It would have a minimum of 35 minutes after Mum tried calling, probably max 40 minutes.
“The sergeant told me he had to physically leave the station to go and knock on the door of the ambulance to let the crew know who had obviously not heard anything about the situation.”
When the ambulance crew finally arrived they declared Alfred dead, as his distraught family remained in shock.
Mr Edwards said he does not blame the ambulance or police officers that attended, and called them “exemplary, understanding and caring”.
“They felt as bad as we did,” he said.
“The police were there for a good hour until the funeral people arrived.”
The family do, however, feel massively let down by the system.
“From the moment we rang to when they got there – it wasn’t good enough,” he said.
“He was 87 but we could have brought him back, we will never know.
“He didn’t get that chance because the time was gone.
“The system didn’t give him that opportunity.”
They have received no explanation for what occurred although ambulance authorities have contacted Mr Edwards to inquire about his phone records since the story first received media attention last week.
He said he felt terrible seeing the news that another family – that of Stewart Grant in Philip Island – had lost someone as a result of an ambulance failing to arrive in time.
Stewart Grant also waited 40 minutes for assistance but it came too late.
“You shouldn’t need to contact how many media services to get some answers,” Mr Edwards said.
He has also spoken with Neil Mitchell on 3AW and The Today Show.
The former serviceperson said he knows what it means to love his country but if this is how people are treated he is tempted, as a long-time Labor voter, not to vote at all in the next elections.
“If I did something at work that caused someone to die, I would be in jail.”
“Why isn’t that happening in this situation?”
Alfred Edwards is survived by two of his three sons, David and Peter, and his wife Joan.
Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority were contacted for comment.
