‘There were lives saved that day:’ RUH doctor honoured following carbon monoxide incident

Dr. Mark Wahba knew something wasn’t right when he had two patients seek help at Royal University Hospital last Thursday.

The emergency medicine physician’s two patients were complaining of headaches, alerting him their dog was also sick. The pair lived in an apartment building and, after noticing the signs, Wahba acted quickly.

He called the Saskatoon Fire Department directly and firefighters were dispatched to the apartment building to find dangerously high levels of carbon monoxide within the facility.

“The decision of Dr. Wahba to call directly to dispatch was crucial in saving lives in this instance,” Saskatoon Fire Chief Morgan Hackl said Monday during a city media conference.

“When we go into properties, when we see 50 (parts per million) we ask the people to vacate … When we see 200 ppm, we do not send our firefighters in without self-contained breathing apparatuses.

“In this case, when it was over 400 ppm in parts of the building, people can die within two to three hours.”

Hackl virtually presented Wahba with the Saskatoon Fire Department Award of Merit for his efforts Thursday.

The building had to be evacuated, with 47 residents receiving treatment. As of Monday, all residents of the building had safely been discharged and are doing well, according to Wahba.

He was emotional when he received the honour.

“This one really hits close to home to me. The building involved is two blocks out my window here,” he said, holding back tears. “My son’s in class with one of the kids in that building.

“I feel that I share this Award of Merit with my emergency department colleagues, with my EMS colleagues, with fire (or) with police. We don’t always get some wins, so it is nice to win this one.”

Prior to Monday’s media conference, Wahba joined Gormley to speak of what change can be made from this near-tragic event.

“I was surprised that apartment buildings don’t need carbon monoxide detectors if they’re built before 2009. That has really been bothering me. I think we can do better, truthfully, as a society and change some laws after what happened last Thursday,” he said.

“Going forward, we have to get these carbon monoxide detectors in every home (and) every building, regardless of the age. I’m so happy that nothing terrible happened in the end.”

Hackl summed up Wahba’s heroic efforts in a simple way while thanking the RUH doctor for his efforts.

“Thank you for your incredible efforts, for being that difference, for being a model for us here in the community to take action for us to all be safe. We appreciate what you did that day,” he said.

“There were lives saved that day.”