Report reignites debate over air ambulance services in Northern B.C.
New helipad at Fort St. John hospital unnecessary according to steering committee report
A report concluding the Fort St. John hospital doesn't currently need a helicopter landing pad has reignited a debate around emergency health services in Northern B.C.
The Fort St. John Hospital Helipad Steering Committee recommends patients continue to be flown to a nearby airport then transferred to hospital via ambulance.
The committee found travel time is usually around five minutes, unless the ambulance is delayed at the CN Rail crossing.
For now, the committee recommends efforts be put into working with CN to reduce delays and said collecting more data on the potential need for a helipad in the future should be a priority.
But advocates for increased emergency medical helicopter services in Northern B.C. say a landing pad is inexpensive and medically necessary and emergency helicopter services in general should be expanded.
Remote workers rely on Albertan services
"Building a new hospital without a helipad these days is like building a hospital without an X-ray machine," said Hans Dysarz with the Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations Society (HEROS).
"Somebody will lose their lives or several people will lose lives over the coming months and years and the hospital will have no choice but to move to a pad again."
Of particular concern for industry and advocates is emergency response time for oil and gas companies operating in the region which rely on helicopters in an emergency.
Earl Holley has been a high-level first aid workers in northeastern British Columbia for four years and said a lack of helicopters in Northern B.C. forces him to rely on Alberta's Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) to transport patients from work sites.
"You've got tens of thousands of people out there. A pipeline project might have 400 or 500 workers in an isolated situation. Your chances for an incident are daily," Holley said.
STARS' closest base is in Grand Prairie which means it takes more than an hour to get to some of B.C.'s most remote work sites.
Holley said the lengthy response time lowers patients' chances of recovery and survival and he'd like to see an increase in B.C.'s helicopter services, including an emergency base in Fort St. John.
"It's great that there's an airport there, but the debate about a helipad is somewhat moot, if we can't get the patient there in the first place."
Limited by weight and distance
Dr. John Tallon, VP of Clinical and Medical Programs with B.C Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) said helicopters are not necessarily the best way to respond to emergencies in northern parts of the province and pointed to the addition of a fixed-wing plane to the region's fleet of response vehicles.
"I think the difference is important specifically for Northern B.C. because of the combination of weather, distance, avionics, etc," he said, adding that a plane is faster over long distances and less restricted by weight and fuel limitations than helicopters.
"The air ambulance service paradigm includes both fixed wing and rotor wing, and we are expanding our fixed wing approach to the extreme distances."
In the meantime, Holley said he's worried about more than remote worksites. He said he often thinks about tourists and families travelling on remote highways in the province's northern corners.
With files from CBC Radio One's Daybreak North