Neighbours use chair and sled to get woman to paramedics during winter storm

While many were digging themselves out Monday, a neighbourhood in Port Dalhousie put their shovels together to help rescue one of their own.

Kathy Stapleton went on a sled ride she never expected, a push from family and friends to her ambulance 50 yards away from her home.

Stapleton’s 11-year-old neighbour Jacob Millen says neighbours spontaneously pulled out a Muskoka chair and placed it on two foam sleds as a way to rush her to emergency assistance. It all happened Monday morning at Stapleton’s Michigan Ave. home in Port Dalhousie, during the region’s 50-centimetre snowfall.

Neighbour Liz Gibb says the block anticipated Stapleton needing hospital care after coming down with a fever. They began digging out around 8:30 a.m. and it wasn’t until 10:30 a.m. when they called for an ambulance which arrived an hour later.

Once paramedics arrived they couldn’t reach her because of road conditions. The neighbourhood made a pathway and sprung their new idea into action. The neighbours say they had to give their newfound creative sled a couple of test runs before Stapleton got on.

Karen Diemert Kennedy, Stapleton’s sister says her sibling was diagnosed with lung cancer last year. She says she is in hospital for cancer treatment Tuesday and is slated to come home in the coming days.