Posted: Feb 18, 2021 8:57 PM AT | Last Updated: February 19 Phil Stewart, the senior manager of provincial operations at EHS, speaks during a virtual media briefing on Thursday. (CBC) A Nova Scotia fire department was given the proper protective equipment to safely respond to medical calls during the pandemic mere days after a woman died in her home near the station, Emergency Health Services said Thursday. April George died after collapsing Feb. 8 at her home in Bass River. It took 80 minutes for an ambulance to arrive after her husband, Kevin, called 911. No one from the fire hall was alerted to the emergency. At the start of COVID-19 lockdowns last spring, Emergency Health Services — a branch of the provincial government that provides emergency medical services — told its medical first-responder teams across Nova Scotia to no longer attend most medical calls for safety reasons. That included firefighters.