Heart attack patient delayed at U.S.-Canada border
Updated Sun. Nov. 18 2007 9:46 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071118/border_security_071118/20071118?hub=TopStories

Canadian officials are calling for a review of border security after
ambulance workers were delayed while transporting a heart attack patient to
a Detroit hospital.

"It's another sad chapter of what's happening at the border," New Democrat
MP Brian Masse told CTV News. "It's becoming a militarized zone."
The incident happened last Monday, when 46-year-old Rick Laport needed
emergency angioplasty -- a procedure that couldn't be performed at his
Windsor, Ont., hospital.

Medical officials rushed Laport to the border, expecting to be waved through
so they could take him to Detroit's Henry Ford medical facility.

Instead, U.S. customs asked the male driver to exit the vehicle and show his
identification card. Another border official opened the back of the
ambulance to confirm a patient was inside, and asked Laporte to verify his
name.

"What happened on Monday is something that you don't expect to happen with
the protocols in place," Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis told CTV News.
The ambulance workers were only delayed by five minutes, but Laport's heart
had already been re-started twice by paramedics. The patient's wife, Kat
Lauzon, said he could have died.

"We need something done about this," said Laport's wife, Kat Lauzon. "This
needs to be changed. Not one person should die because of that type of
miscommunication, or whatever you want to call it."

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day expressed concern about the delay in a
letter to his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff.
"Canada and the U.S. have a long-standing tradition of helping one another
in times of emergency," he wrote. "I am quite concerned about this
incident."
Day asked Chertoff that border procedures be reviewed.

Just last week, Quebec firefighters responding to a call for help from their
American counterparts were also delayed at the border.

For nearly 40 years, members of the Lacolle Fire Department have pooled
their resources with firefighters in Rouses Point, a town a few minutes
south of the border in New York.

Last Sunday, Lacolle firefighters hoped to help extinguish a blaze at the
Anchorage Inn, a well-known landmark in Rouses Point.

Because they were dressed in their gear, most of the firefighters didn't
have any form of identification. As a result, they were delayed about 10
minutes at the border before they could reach their destination.

With a report by CTV's Joel Bowey in Kitchener, Ont.