Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Would it be different if Danny lived in Labrador?

I’ve been listening with interest to the debate over the air ambulance situation in Labrador. The Williams government announced the decision to move the air ambulance from its current base in St. Anthony to Goose Bay. The decision *apparently* was based on a report prepared by that-perennial hanger-on Wes Drodge back in March. (You can read the report by clicking here.)

There are three recommendations within the report connected to staffing:

**Recommendation # 2: There should be a second MFS Team stationed in Happy Valley Goose Bay to accompany the air ambulance aircraft to be located there.

**Recommendation # 3: The Aircraft Flight Crews and the MFS Teams must be sufficiently staffed to provide a 24/7 level of service.

**Recommendation # 4: There must be aircraft available to provide a 24/7 level of service.

Now I heard Jerome Kennedy in the news yesterday say that when a medevac is required, the plane will have to fly to St. John’s, pick up a medevac crew and then go back to get the patient. Quite frankly, that is the stupidest thing I have heard Kennedy say. I’m not sure what thinking is going on with the Minister of Health or his staff, but they need a serious kick in the rear. A medevac team requires some special skills, but nothing greater than an emergency room or ICU nurse. Throw in a physician for good measure and you have a flying ICU team.

This whole air ambulance mess needs to be cleaned up before someone else dies because of lousy service. I wonder what the situation would be like if Danny Williams was from Labrador?

2 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

Bbbbbut VP?

Last I heard Danny gets his healthcare in Florida?

;^)

XO
WWW

ViewPoint2010 said...

The elephant in the room, right? :-)