Latest news with #MichaelChristian
Vancouver Sun
09-05-2025
- Health
- Vancouver Sun
B.C.'s 911 system needs major changes, emergency care expert says
The former chief medical officer for B.C.'s Ambulance Service gave a damning indictment of the province's 911 system on Friday, raising a number of concerns including that dispatchers rely on a remote breathing test that has a high failure rate. Dr. Michael Christian, an international expert in pre-hospital care, was chief medical officer at B.C. Emergency Health Services, which oversees ambulances, from December 2021 to January 2024. He left the post because he couldn't get management to address his 'quality and safety' concerns, he testified at a coroner's inquest. His concerns included that the service was 'far below' international standards for auditing how it handles 911 calls and that it was not meeting its targeted time of 10 seconds to answer 911 calls. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'Those are some of the things that I observed, as well as the series of critical patient safety incidents, including numerous deaths, that were attributed to care that was occurring inside BCEHS and related dispatch,' said Christian, who is head of the critical care division in the UBC faculty of medicine. He tried to introduce changes to prevent future deaths, he told the inquest into the fatal fentanyl-poisoning of a University of Victoria student who did not get medical treatment fast enough despite her friends phoning 911 immediately. 'Unfortunately, as this case shows, I was unsuccessful in seeing those changes actually occur in the system, which is one of the reasons why I left,' said Christian. Sidney McIntyre-Starko, 18, died of oxygen deprivation in January, 2024 after not receiving the overdose-reversing drug naloxone for 13 minutes or CPR for 15 minutes. An ambulance wasn't dispatched for seven minutes into the 911 call, partly because the call-taker's computer system interpreted the teen as having a seizure because her friends said she was 'seizing.' Ambulance call-takers in B.C. are typically not medically trained so rely on a computer system, designed by American company Priority Dispatch, to guide them through 911 calls. The system has a proprietary tool that call-takers use to determine if a patient is breathing properly, which involves getting someone at the scene to count the seconds between a patient's breaths. Christian testified the tool cannot tell call-takers if those counted breaths are weak or strong. He said reviews of the tool indicate it works 71 per cent of the time, meaning that with nearly one third of patients 'it's going to miss that they aren't breathing correctly.' Other jurisdictions that use the Priority Dispatch system have 'built in extra layers' to offset this failure rate, including a doctor monitoring these types of calls, using video technology to see the patients at the scene, or asking questions earlier in the emergency to figure out quickly if a patient's condition is critical. On Thursday, the Priority Dispatch founder, Dr. Jeff Clawson, disagreed that the breathing diagnostic tool designed by his company had a 29 per cent failure rate, arguing instead that people were 'unable to complete' the test in that percentage of cases. The breathing diagnostic tool has a median completion time of 28 seconds to determine if someone is breathing. But in Sidney's case, the tool was attempted by three different people at the scene — including two security officers with first aid training — and was not completed for five minutes. Ambulance service lawyer Eric Stanger suggested to Christian that even if every system was reviewed and every change was made, 'it's not going to prevent every moment of harm.' But Christian responded that preventing harm should be the goal of B.C.'s ambulance service. 'To work toward zero patient harms, that's what I'd suggest most high reliability organizations do.' BCEHS monitors how long it takes for call-takers to answer a 911 call, but he also wanted them to audit additional factors that could inform where to make improvements, including the time to confirm an address, to time to assign an ambulance, and the time to recommend CPR start. Christian believes BCEHS didn't make his suggested changes because it was concerned negative feedback would make it harder to recruit and hold onto dispatchers and call-takers, and therefore the service was less focused on what was best for patients. 'There is a balance between the two that needs to be struck.' The jury has heard the call-taker spent 3½ minutes trying to find a location for the UVic dorm where Sidney collapsed, partly because the building didn't have its own address and didn't show up in the provincially run database used to find locations. Christian, who reviewed Sidney's case for the coroner's service, noted the call-taker knew after 15 seconds that the emergency was in the Sir Arthur Currie residence on the university campus, but spent 199 seconds trying to get an exact address for paramedics. 'This far exceeds … typical best practices,' he said. In Alberta, he said, the benchmark is to have most locations confirmed in 60 seconds. He was not aware of whether B.C. had a benchmark. Christian said the call-taker appears to have had 'task fixation' as she focused on trying to find an address, which in B.C.'s 911 system must be known before the call-taker asks what the emergency is. He suggested allowing call-takers to determine right away if the call is life-threatening — which is only the case in five per cent of 911 calls — so they would know the urgency of getting paramedics responding. In those critical calls, crews could roll towards a general location, perhaps guided by the estimated location of the cellphone used to dial 911 — information the call-taker knew in this case. On Thursday, Brandon Boyle, a call-taker manager with B.C. Ambulance, said it is 'not unreasonable' that call-takers could become fixated on something like finding an address, but he argued it is important information to determine so paramedics can find patients at the scene of an emergency. Christian rejected a suggestion by Stanger that BCEHS made significant proposals for change after Sidney's case. He argued ambulance services around the world use 'far more robust processes' to analyze flawed responses. Sidney's mother, emergency physician Dr. Caroline McIntyre, said outside court she was 'absolutely devastated' to learn the ambulance service didn't implement Christian's proposed changes, which she believes could have saved her daughter's life. Christian left his role approximately two weeks before Sidney died. He told the coroner's jury he believes the entire emergency health system, including ambulance, fire and police, should undergo a major external review to identify key changes and how they should be implemented. lculbert@
News.com.au
08-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
The Everest winner Bella Nipotina fetches Chairman's Sale record $4.2 million
Mighty mare Bella Nipotina fetched a cool $4.2 million to set a new Inglis Chairman's Sale record at Riverside Stables on Thursday night. Following some frenetic bidding for the reigning The Everest winner, it was co-owner Michael Christian's Longwood Thoroughbreds that ultimately secured the four-time group 1 winner of $22.8 million in prize money. The purchase sees Christian, who bred the seven-year-old daughter of Pride Of Dubai, essentially buy out the remaining owners and ensure the once-in-a-lifetime galloper remains part of the Longwood Thoroughbreds family. 'It's great to be able to bring her home to where it all started,' Christian said. 'We knew it was always going to be tough to secure her, there was some serious bidding going on, and I'm just proud that we were able to secure her and bring her home.' The $4.2 million splurged for Bella Nipotina surpasses the previous $3.6 million record paid for Nimalee at the 2023 Inglis Chairman's Sale. BELLA NIPOTINA (Lot 35) sells for $4.2m!!! This incredible mare from @cmaherracing draft sells to Longwood Thoroughbred Farm! Wow, what a great result! #InglisChairmans — Inglis (@inglis_sales) May 8, 2025 Bella Nipotina retired following a glorious 57-start career winning 11 races, four at group 1 level, with her crowning glory when becoming the first filly or mare to win The Everest in 2024. Her stake earnings of $22.8 million sits only behind the great Winx ($26.5m) in the all-time record books. And while Bella Nipotina was the headline horse at Thursday night's sale, she wasn't the only mare to command big dollars. Coolmore paid $2.8 million to secure Tiz Invincible, Ciaron Maher Bloodstock parted with $2.4 million to snare Too Darn Lizzie while Coolmore were at it again when paying $2.8 million for four-year-old Estriella. Arrowfield paid $2 million to land top flight mare I Am Me while the final lot of the night, star group 1 winning mare Amelia's Jewel, fetched an eye-watering $3.8 million from new owners Coolmore. 14 mares went for more than $1 million across the star-studded catalogue.
News.com.au
07-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Superstar mares Bella Nipotina and Amelia's Jewel headline lots at black-tie Inglis Chairman's Sale
Michael Christian, the owner-breeder of The Everest winner Bella Nipotina, admitted he will be feeling the full gamut of emotions when super mare enters the auction ring at the Inglis Chairman's Sale at Warwick Farm on Thursday night. 'I'll be feeling nervous, excited, anxious – and very sad when 'Bella' goes up for sale,'' Christian said. 'We bred the mare and have enjoyed the most incredible and unbelievable ride that anyone could imagine with her. 'We were keen to hold on to the mare to breed but our partners in the horse decided they would like to sell. 'So, the only fair way to do that is to bring her to public auction which is what we are doing.'' • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. The Ciaron Maher -trained Bella Nipotina was retired earlier this year after an outstanding race career where she won 11 of her 57 races, with four wins at Group 1 level including The Everest, for a staggering $22.7m prizemoney, second only to all-time great Winx on $26.4m. Understandably, Bella Nipotina is the headline act among 96 lots due to go under the hammer at the Chairman's Sale, a black-tie event that has become one of Inglis' most signification annual auctions. • The catalogue also include outstanding fillies and mares like Group 1 winner Amelia's Jewel, I Am Me, Makarena, Estriella, Too Darn Lizzie, Tiz Invincible and Semana, plus a share in exciting young stallion Alabama Express will also go under the hammer. At last year's Chairman's Sale, 59 lots were sold for an aggregate of $35,335,000 with an average price of $598,898 (median of $400,000) with the top priced lots including $3.4m for She's Extreme, $3.2m to Tutta La Vita and $2.2m for Kimochi. But with the bullish Australian racing and breeding industry, Chairman's Sale records are set to be smashed on Thursday night. 'It's going to be a really fun night,'' Inglis chief executive Sebastian Hutch said. 'This year's Chairman's Sale especially is a celebration of the careers of some of the best race fillies and mares.'' • Free membership, $1000 bar tab if Rosehill sale goes ahead Hutch said the Chairman's Sale is like no other thoroughbred auction anywhere in the world. 'It's effectively a cocktail party with a horse sale added, everyone is dressed up, there's pre and post-sale entertainment – this year being duelling pianos based off the Las Vegas phenomenon,'' Hutch said. 'The sale itself is all over in just three or four hours, it really is globally unique and it's here in Sydney.'' The highest-priced for a mare sold at auction was the $6.6m paid for Imperatriz last but although bidding for Bella Nipotina is not likely to reach those dizzying heights, it is expected she will go for more than $3m. 'My brother and I will be bidding to a price to see if we can keep 'Bella','' Christian said. 'Whether that is enough to buy her is another question but we will wait and see.''
