A 94-year-old woman says she waited over eight hours for an ambulance earlier this week after she fell in her bathroom.

Grace Piccone was walking to the bathroom on Monday morning when she lost feelings in her legs and fell.

Her son-in-law called 911 immediately – at 8:45 a.m.

By the time the ambulance showed up, it was 5:30 p.m., and Piccone was “sore from head to toe,” according to her daughter Irene – who says she called no fewer than four times to check on the dispatch status from Urgences-Sante.

Grace uses a walker – sometimes a wheelchair – to get around.

Her first fall was two years ago, and a big reason why her daughter and son-in-law chose not to move her.

Urgences Sante says the call wasn’t categorized as an emergency, and blames an unusually high volume of calls for the delay.

That day they received 1,300 calls – 30 per cent more than usual. The urgent calls, according to a spokesperson, are the ones where a patient has trouble breathing, or is unconscious.

However, Urgences Sante acknowledged that Grace’s call should have been a higher priority.

Urgences Sante says they need a better triage system, rather than more ambulances – and that a revision is in the works.

Grace is now recovering at the Lakeshore hospital while she waits for an evaluation.

With a report from Amanda Kline.