Union links fatal heart attack to Kits coast guard closure
Union members are once again raising questions about the closure
of the Kitsilano coast guard station after a crewmember of a
cargo ship in English Bay died from a heart attack yesterday
afternoon.  The coast guard says it took them just over 20
minutes to reach the scene from their Sea Island base.  But Bill
Tieleman, the spokesman for the Union of Canadian Transportation
Employees, says that was too long.  "We believe a minimum of 15
minutes would have been saved if the Kits coast guard station
was still open, they would have been immediately dispatched from
here," said Tieleman.  "We keep saying that 15 minutes for a
heart attack victim. Fifteen minutes for somebody in the water
is an enormous difference. It's a life and death difference,
potentially. We don't know in this case, but we do know there
was a delay because Kits is closed."  The Canadian Coast Guard's
Kitsilano Life Boat Station was considered the busiest in
Canada, but was closed earl