The mayors of Yarmouth, N.S., and Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) say they’re pleased a new LifeFlight plane will help transport non-critical care patients much faster.
CBRM Mayor Amanda McDougall-Merrill knows that challenge firsthand. Her son Emmett was born with Down Syndrome and also has hearing challenges.
“In the past two months, we’ve had three trips to Halifax that involve about a five-and-a-half hour drive, hotels, meals,” she says, “but also the stress of seeking medical care outside of your own community.”
“I speak from experience when I say there’s layers of stress when you have to add issues and barriers, quite frankly, like travel. I know that there are people who don’t have the means to do that travel.”
‘Hugely significant’
Last week, the province announced a new fixed-wing aircraft will begin transporting two-to-four patients per trip, starting this week, with three round trips daily.
It will take people from Yarmouth and Sydney to Halifax for tests and treatments.
“Ground transport is tough. If you have discomfort, it can be uncomfortable in the back of an ambulance for longer trips,” Health Minister Michelle Thompson told a news conference Friday.
The province says the service will help free up ambulances and paramedics, allowing them to respond to emergencies rather than transporting non-critical patients.
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Kevin McMullin, the business manager for the union representing paramedics, nurses on LifeFlight, and clinical transport operators says the addition to the LifeFlight fleet is “hugely significant.”
“It’ll save a lot of wear and tear on vehicles, it’ll save a lot on patients able to get to appointments a lot sooner and return a lot sooner and be discharged from hospital a lot sooner,” he says. “So, it frees up bed space, which is critically important, especially when the years are jammed and they’re trying to get patients upstairs to beds that are occupied by people because it’s just almost impossible to transport them all up to the Halifax facility for specialized treatment.”
Until now, the fleet has included three aircraft — another plane and two helicopters, one as a backup — for critical care patients.
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Pam Mood, Yarmouth’s mayor, says the new LifeFlight plane is a “huge deal.”
“Finding ambulances that are home to take care of people in emergencies, they don’t need to be driving back and forth,” she says. “This is the fix for that, or at least it’s a great start.”
It will be especially helpful because, in her words, “health care is a mess.”
While Mood and McDougall-Merrill are supportive of the addition, both would like to see more investments in care.
“We don’t need in 2023 to be driving to Halifax to get health care,” Mood says. “It’s just too much.”
“I think that (LifeFlight) investment is important, I would never downplay that,” McDougall-Merrill says. “I think LifeFlight is absolutely essential. However, there needs to be some balance and really thoughtful development into what health care for the entire province looks like.”
McDougall-Merrill wonders how we can ensure there will be equitable access to health care across the province, especially with plans to double the province’s population.
“When we hear we hear goals like increasing the population to two million people, two million people cannot be reliant on one central area for service in health care.”
Staffing
EHS (Emergency Health Services) says 26 clinical staff support LifeFlight, including 16 paramedics, says Colin Flynn, senior manager for EHS LifeFlight.
Crews responded to nearly 1,300 critical calls last year, with about 65% requiring the helicopter, 30% relying on the fixed-wing plane, and the remaining 5% being transported by vehicle.
The majority of calls have relied on EHS staff, while IWK staff respond to incidents involving children.
EHS has trained eight existing paramedics to respond in the non-critical care plane, which will travel 12 hours per day.
McMullin, the union representative, says “a ton” of patients get transported from Cape Breton and Yarmouth, so the plane will help alleviate that stress.
“We’re (at) critical staffing,” he says.
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