Patient dies after B.C. community sees ER coverage pulled back

The mayor of a small community in northeastern B.C. hopes the Northern Health Authority walks back its decision to make major operational changes to one local emergency room.

Tumbler Ridge Mayor Darryl Krakowka tells 1130 NewsRadio he had a meeting with the B.C. Ministry of Health and Northern Health, where the idea was floated, but not confirmed.

Two days later, he says he learned of the decision via social media, adding that people were given next-to-no notice earlier this month, when Northern Health announced there would be no on-call emergency help available during evenings and overnights, nor on weekends.

Soon after the announcement, Krakowka says a patient suffering a medical emergency called for help sometime between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on a Saturday but died en route to get help out of town.

“I know the individual. 911 was called and an ambulance was dispatched to a residence. They decided to load the patient and transport them to Dawson [Creek], and the patient passed away on the way to Dawson Creek during the transfer to the nearest health-care facility.”

Krakowka is stunned and adds he knew the changes were a bad idea.

“I said it loud and clear when this announcement came out, it’s going to put lives at risk, this isn’t the right way to do things, and within less than 24 hours of [Northern Health] doing the announcement, we have a fatality in our community. This is nothing against BC Ambulance. I know the paramedics did everything they can do. We have great nurses — this is nothing against our medical professionals that work in our community, but again, this is Northern Health trying to fix our after-hours ER, which to me, is not working already.”

It’s not known if the patient would have survived had they been seen by a local doctor.

“…It’s going to put lives at risk, this isn’t the right way to do things.”

Krakowka blames part of the problem on a crisis that’s affecting the entire province and country.

“Northern Health is definitely losing some doctors. My understanding is we had four, and we went down to three, and now it sounds like we’re going down to two, so it does put us in a physician crisis.”

He says driving patients out of town doesn’t make sense, given the distance between communities.

“Chetwynd is about 95 kilometres, so you’re looking at an hour in good road conditions. Dawson Creek is about 115 kilometres, so you’re looking at about an hour and 30 minutes in good driving conditions. Now that we have winter coming soon… that could be a two-hour drive in the winter. Fort St. John, in good road conditions, you’re at over two hours, and in the wintertime, it’s going to be worse.”

Last Sunday, officials with Northern Health were in the community for an open house, which also included a rally by frustrated residents.

“I was not impressed with Northern Health’s response. People asked great questions, very concerned, the worry is the same as elected officials, and lots of comments back [from Northern Health] of, ‘I’ll have to get you that answer.’ ‘Oh, I’ll have to get that answer.’ I think they should have been more prepared. This was their fix for our after-hours in Tumbler Ridge, and they couldn’t answer certain questions.”

Tumbler Ridge is home to about 2,700 people, and Krakowka says that around 350 people attended the open house. He adds that the community is home to a mine which includes about 500 residents.

“Who’s the next community in the north that Northern Health looks after? Is it Valemount, McBride, Vanderhoof, Fraser Lake? And then what’s Interior Health going to start doing? We have a fairly heavy industrial area up here that we send a lot of tax dollars down south, and to me, we need the same services that the south gets. Don’t get me wrong, we all deserve adequate health care across this province and across Canada.”