Kootenay East Regional Hospital District Chair David Wilks says the tragic death of a child awaiting urgent care highlights a need for major changes in rural health care.
In late January, a child at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital (EKRH) needed urgent care and required air transport to a bigger medical facility.
“They were told by BCEHS (BC Emergency Health Services) that a plane or helicopter would be in Cranbrook in one hour and 27 minutes,” said Wilks.
“The medical professionals at EKRH asked if they could call STARS Air Ambulance as a backup, just to make sure they’re ready; they were told no and that BCEHS would be there. They readied the patient for transport, but that transport never came, and the patient passed away.”
Wilks says he sent a letter to B.C.’s Health Minister Josie Osborne, Kootenay-Rockies MLA Pete Davis and Interior Health (IHA) CAO Susan Brown.
“I hadn’t heard from anyone in about a month, so I wrote a fairly nasty email to Minister Osborne and the IHA CAO, and I promptly got a phone call within about 15 minutes,” said Wilks.
After Wilks’ email, he learned that the Ministry of Health launched an investigation into the incident.
“Things were being dealt with in the background, and I will be kept in the loop about what’s going on,” said Wilks.
“I feel so badly for the family. I don’t know who they are, and I don’t know who the patient was because that was not my concern. My concern was that we didn’t get them air transport when we needed air transport.”
Wilks says he was disappointed to see how the incident was handled in the Legislature.
“I spoke with MLA Davis, and he asked if he could speak to the contents of the letter in the Legislative Assembly. I told him it was his letter and he could do what he wanted with it,” said Wilks.
“There was a little political hay made in Victoria that, in my opinion, didn’t need to be made.”
Wilks says he hopes to see some positive change come from this tragedy.
“My ideal solution would be for us to have a BC Ambulance airplane or helicopter stationed at the Canadian Rockies International Airport,” said Wilks.
“We’re the forgotten corner of the province, and there are a lot of people in Victoria who don’t like hearing that, but that’s the truth.”
He says barriers in interprovincial health care led to deteriorating conditions for East Kootenay patients.
“They took advantage of the fact that we were able to go to Alberta in the past, and now we can’t go,” said Wilks.
“When you can’t go east, you have to go west, and even from Cranbrook, it’s a six-hour drive to Kelowna. We need air transport badly, and we need to know we’re going to get it when we call for it.”
Wilks says allowing urgent care situations into Alberta for care would be a necessary alternative.
“I am hoping that we can set up an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the Province of Alberta to allow STARS to come into the EKRH to transport patients to Kelowna or Vancouver,” said Wilks.
“What we can’t have is politicians in the Legislative Assembly in Victoria arguing over something that is causing death. We can make hay out of it all we want, but that doesn’t help me as the Hospital Board Chair, and it doesn’t help anyone who is in critical care. I would ask that we stop the political grandstanding and get this done.”
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