January 3, 2005

Ministry of Health Services

Honorable Shirley Bond

1515 Blanshard Street

Victoria, BC   V8W 3C8

Dear Ms. Bond;

On November 28^th, our 20-year-old son was injured in a dirt-bike accident and was taken to Fernie Hospital by personal vehicle. Following the Doctor’s assessment of a suspected spleen injury, the decision was made to immediately transfer him by ambulance to Cranbrook for further diagnosis, care, and possible emergency surgery. At 4:45, the Doctor called BC Ambulance for a code 3 transfer.

Inadequate funding has left our hospital with only 2.4 nursing positions to cover a 24 hr. emergency surgery department and therefore, the ability to perform emergency surgery in Fernie was at this point, not an option for our son. At 5:10, with our son in excruciating pain and no ambulance yet at the hospital, the Doctor made her second call. This time she was told that the Fernie ambulance station had only one ambulance available, and that a Cranbrook ambulance was called in. It was also discovered during this second call that dispatch had not relayed the call as code 3. They had been dispatched routine.

At 5:26, a full forty-one minutes following the initial call, the Fernie ambulance arrived to transport our son to Cranbrook code 3, with a nurse escort and blood on board. While enroute, we passed the incoming ambulance on the other side of Jaffray, still half an hour away.

It was confirmed that our son had fractured his spleen in five different places. The attending surgeon said his spleen looked as if it had been “pulverized”. Subsequently, he spent a week in I.C.U. and needed to be continually monitored for another 3 weeks. Thankfully, he is slowly recovering and has not required surgery to remove his spleen. The injury he had sustained was critical and could easily have become life threatening. Our son could have bled to death while waiting for the medical attention he so desperately needed.

We recognize and truly appreciate the professional care and attention our son received from the staff at the Fernie hospital, the ambulance personnel, and the attending surgeon in Cranbrook. These health care professionals are being forced to work within the tight restraints they’ve been put into, doing the best they can under difficult circumstances.

This, however, does not alter the fact that the ordeal we faced was unacceptable and unnecessary. Having experienced extreme distress, anger, and frustration with our medical system, we address the following questions, anticipating a prompt response with viable, rational answers, and most explicitly, solutions to these concerns.

Why, especially when Fernie has encountered such staffing problems for the OR, was there only one ambulance available? There are, and will be many instances when waiting for Cranbrook to arrive is not a viable option! Is this a result of insufficient members to support 2 ambulances, a lack of funding for adequate training/hiring, or simple “politics”? In light of the fact that more and more patients must be transferred out, shouldn’t it be mandatory for ambulance stations in these areas to have 2, or even 3 ambulances properly manned and available 24 hrs./day,

7 days/week?

How did dispatch confuse a code 3 transfer with a routine callout?

In our situation, the roads were bare and dry making travel safe. What about the number of times throughout the year when our roads are closed due to poor weather conditions or accidents? Three times in a span of three weeks this summer alone, the road between Fernie and Cranbrook was blocked due to accidents involving semi trucks!

Most importantly of all, who would have been held responsible had our son died? Our son didn’t bleed to death waiting for the appropriate care because he had youth and good health on his side, along with many answered prayers. We are very blessed that he didn’t die or suffer further complications. Will the next person be so lucky?

Considering the number of mines, tour buses, semi trucks, and other traffic that travel the highways from the Alberta border throughout the Elk Valley, it’s very possible that we could be faced with a major disaster. The “Golden Hour”, so vital to anyone critically injured, has been put into total jeopardy. Fernie to Cranbrook on safe road conditions is an hour. What about Elkford, Sparwood, and the miles of highway connecting these municipalities?

The residents of the Elk Valley have been left with hospitals ill equipped to handle the necessities of emergency medical care. Instead, we are forced to become completely reliant on a hospital with over-worked staff more than an hour away in many circumstances. The $21 million upgrade promised to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital and the nine new physicians do little if anything to alleviate our concerns! The sixty miles from Fernie to Cranbrook may as well be 1,000 miles when life-threatening emergencies arise.

Had the internal bleed put our son’s health at immediate risk, the Doctor’s in Fernie couldn’t have performed surgery to stabilize him until he could be safely transported. How many people will die because of dollar-based rather than human-based decisions?

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lynda Gawryluk

cc/        Editor, The Fernie Free Press

Mr. Neal Ludlow, Administrator, Fernie District Hospital

Dr. David McBeath, Chief of Staff

Mr. Randall McNair, Mayor of Fernie

Mr. Jim Abbott, MLA

            Joy MacPhail, NDP House Leader

            David Morhart, CEO BCAS

            Wayne Adnrosoff, Dispatch Superintendent, Regions 3&4

            Mr. Ray Bernard,

            Elk Valley Health Coalition