Standardization

Within the busy streets of Vancouver's downtown core Granville st. is often the last to go to sleep. On weekends the street is swarming with club goers, cops and the regular spread of fiends on the streets looking for their next fix. Paramedics and police often park off of Granville due to the high volume of people that come in and out of the many clubs the street holds.

This past week a close friend was promoting an event at one of the more popular clubs on Granville and so I decided to make an appearance and show my support. The theme of the evening was heaven and hell and so guests were asked to where either all white to represent heaven or all red to show their dark side. The crowd vibes were really off that night maybe because the promoters wanted the good and the bad to mingle and it just wasn't happening so I decided to leave the club in hopes of finishing off my night better than it started.

Walking out of the club a friend and I turned off of Granville and head toward the water. We stumbled upon someone on the ground clutching their gut in pain. The individual wasn't a fiend and looked more like a typical Vancouverite out on the town with his nice jeans, fancy shoes and his flashy pink dress shirt. Not even 10 feet away was an ambulance parked with a paramedic inside completely unfazed. Disgusted at the paramedics lack of concern I decide to get closer to the ambulance for a closer look at what might possibly be more important than saving someone from obvious pain.

It couldn't be anything else; the paramedic was on his laptop checking his facebook account online. Maybe he had parked there because he knew he could pick up on a signal in that location or maybe he was lucky but he had to have been on it for a while because the guy on the ground you could tell had been there for some time as well. No helping anyone unless they receive a call for help.

Can't just ask for it anymore; you have to go through the proper channels or else you're out of luck.