BY CRAIG GILBERT
The Sudbury Regional Hospital?s emergency room boss doesn?t want to rain on the Santa Claus Parade, he just wants to move it.
Dr. Chris Bourdon, SRH associate program director of emergency and medical programs and chief of emergency medicine, is fed up with the unnecessary risk posed by the parade?s blocking of Paris Street the duration of the Christmas tradition.
This year?s Santa Claus Parade takes place Saturday, Nov. 20 starting at 5:30 pm.
It begins at Ste. Anne Road, winds its way through the downtown core, down Elm Street, across Durham Street, up Elgin Street and then on to Science North via Paris Street.
A disaster was narrowly avoided last year when a patient was delayed trying to get to the emergency room at St. Joseph?s Health Centre, he said.
Other examples of doctors or patients experiencing 30- or 40-minute delays have been recorded in the past.
?There is a group of people out there that needs access to the hospital at all times and the parade affects access to all three sites,? he said. ?It is part of our responsibility to our patients and those in the community (that may become patients)? to ensure they have easy and immediate access to emergency care.
Access to the hospital for emergency vehicles is not an issue since the parade?s emergency plan creates a lane for ambulance, fire and police vehicles.
In fact, paramedics have told Bourdon they have more trouble getting patients to emergency or between sites the rest of the year than during the parade.
But that doesn?t mean much to the vast majority of patients who might need to get themselves to emergency without a rack of flashing lights on top of their vehicle, or the on-call specialists who have to get there to examine patients, says Bourdon.
Greater Sudbury Police Service traffic Const. Tom Saya is in charge of traffic control for the parade, including the four motorcycle officers there specifically to escort emergency cases to the hospital.
He says he has addressed all the doctor?s concerns, and doesn?t put much weight in the case of the allegedly inconvenienced heart attack victim.
That man got a note from a walk-in clinic to see his doctor right away, got back in his truck and drove to the parade route, with his wife who could have driven, Saya said.
?I talked to him and asked him why on Earth he drove while having a heart attack,? he said. ?He told me it wasn?t that bad. I wouldn?t let you drive with a broken leg let alone a heart attack.?
Saya wonders why the hospital chooses this event to express concerns over access. The Dragon Boat festival and the post-fireworks crowd on Canada Day near Science North creates massive congestion and delays that make the Santa Claus Parade look like a walk in the park, he said.
No concerns over either of those events have ever been raised.
Parades in Toronto and Sault Ste. Marie pass in front of several hospitals, respectively, but have generated none of the same concerns, according to the veteran traffic cop.
?I don?t know why it rears its head here. We?ve done this for the last four years or so and we haven?t had a problem.?
Since the event is a partnership between downtown businesses and Science North, there is simply no acceptable route other than down Paris Street.
?This year, the parade falls on the Day of the Child,? noted Saya. ?The children can?t walk for 10 miles, the two-kilometre route is more than enough for them.?
Bourdon doesn?t pretend to be an event organizer, and has no suggestions as to an alternate route or a change to the current route that would avoid the problem at hand.
?The parade is a hugely important community activity,? he said. ?It?s extremely well-run. (But) do we need to wait for a bad outcome for things to
change??
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