Islanders organize protest over changes with medevac service

Grand Mananers held a protest on Friday, May 19, over the loss of island air service Atlantic Charters as medevac provider and the reliance on mainland aircraft that has ensued. New Transport Canada regulations left the former with too few pilots to meet duty time limits, and contract negotiations with Ambulance New Brunswick (ANB) stalled. It has been unclear whether Atlantic Charters, which flew medevacs for 40 years, will be reinstated or replaced, and many fear waiting for mainland aircraft will cost lives.
Tatum Worthen organized the protest. On May 7, her mother had a stroke. ANB's plane was unavailable, and EHS LifeFlight from Halifax was dispatched. A doctor phoned her on the ferry later to say her mother had missed the time window for clot busting drugs. After a scary few days, her mother returned home. She has "minimal defects," Worthen says. "We were very, very lucky. Maybe the next person won't be."
A statement from ANB spokesperson Christianna Williston says they received the hospital's request "at 12:53 and the EHS LifeFlight critical care team was available and dispatched immediately," arrived "at Saint John Regional Hospital Helipad at 15:30, and the patient was transported to their Emergency Department by 15:32, two hours and 39 minutes after the request to ANB was placed. On average, ANB's response time for critical care air ambulance transfers from time of request to arrival at tertiary care is approximately three hours for Grand Manan, which is the fastest response time for any other location in the province that qualifies for critical care air ambulance transfers."
However, islanders aren't convinced, favouring Atlantic Charters' rapid departure availability. "We're hoping our voices will be heard and we'll get our plane back," Worthen says. If another service is stationed on the island, "where will they [house] the pilots? They're just wasting time. Why fix what isn't broken? Atlantic Charters has saved many lives over the years. This affects every one of us. Everyone thinks, 'It's never going to happen to me,' until it does."
Gregg Russell was the last islander flown out by Atlantic Charters in December with a bad case of Influenza A. He was unconscious when island doctors told his daughter to take him on the first ferry in the morning. She insisted on a flight. Russell doesn't remember any of it, but they flew to Saint John at 9 a.m.. He went straight to emergency, and one paramedic rode on the stretcher administering CPR as his heart stopped three times. Had his daughter taken him on the ferry, he says, "I'd have died in the truck at Musquash. I was a lucky one. Grand Manan needs a permanent emergency service."
Carla Guptill's 62 year old husband was flown out under the new system on February 10. Both ANB and LifeFlight were thwarted by weather. A Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) helicopter was called from Greenwood, N.S. Despite emergency surgery for a brain hemorrhage, he never regained consciousness and died 14 days later. "He sat there, bleeding in his head for five and a half hours. It's torture every day for me to wonder" if an earlier flight would have made a difference. "I don't know if it would've changed anything, but it wouldn't have hurt," Guptill says, adding that she has moved from sadness to anger. "This province has money. It's time some of it came here to save lives."
Gina Urquhart recalls the last time ANB took over flights when Atlantic Charters' contract was not renewed. Her father in law had a heart attack and had to wait almost three hours for a mainland plane. "The whole time Atlantic Charters was waiting" and could have taken him," she argues. "People need to wake up. It can happen to you. Many years ago a decision was made that Atlantic Charters was the best for Grand Manan."
Sheila Hornjak's protest sign read, "Government medivac left my husband to die on tarmac -- Atlantic Charters saved his life." In 2015 his pacemaker was triggered multiple times, and they waited for a mainland plane, which circled but couldn't land in the fog at 2 a.m. Finally Atlantic Charters flew him out. Hornjak says if that had been the first option, they "could've been there before midnight."
Susian Lambert says she lost count of how many times her husband was flown out between 1977 and 2013 with stroke and heart problems. Twice doctors told her he would have died had they been an hour later. "We'd have lost him without the plane," she says. "Doctors here can only do so much."
Atlantic Charters president Melanie Sonnenberg attended briefly and spoke with protesters. She couldn't comment on contract issues but said, "We're very moved by the support from the community" and have appreciated the many messages.
Williston of ANB writes, "We are committed to ensuring services on the island. EM/ANB, in partnership with the Department of Health and in consultation with Grand Manan Village Council, [is] planning services to include a plane stationed on Grand Manan. Together, our primary goal is always the health and safety of the people we serve. We look forward to sharing more details when appropriate.
"In the meantime, all previously communicated plans to ensure safe evacuation by air remain in place. When an air transport is required, Ambulance New Brunswick's critical care Air Ambulance continues to respond." She continues, "In the event that the critical care Air Ambulance response is not timely, for example, due to weather conditions or other missions, backup contingencies include [LifeFlight] and [JRCC]."
Mayor Bonnie Morse states that the council "has advocated to maintain the same level of access to healthcare for island residents, namely that there be an island based plane able to provide the medevac service. The province has said that they are working towards having a plane stationed on Grand Manan. We are disappointed at how long the process is taking, but we continue to advocate until there is a resolution that ensures the health and safety of our citizens."
Worthen says she thinks the day went well, "and I think going to Fredericton might be next." She says one government official tried to dissuade her from holding a protest "because it might scare people." Several protesters who overheard that responded, "People are scared now." Worthen wonders, "Would [Premier] Higgs and [other decision makers] be comfortable coming here and knowing they can't just get off" in an emergency, "especially in the 'golden hour'?”
Lambert is more direct. To the decision makers she says, "I dare you to come here and stay for a bit, hoping something doesn't happen to you."