Town reacts

The mayor of Labrador City is calling on the province's health minister take a serious look at the air ambulance service in Labrador West.

Janice Barnes says the story of Peggy Mitchell going into premature labour this past summer, waiting 11 hours for an air ambulance and the death of her infant son, is indeed tragic and significant.

"Councillor [Debbie] Samson first brought that to my attention," said Mayor Barnes of learning of the 11-hour wait and death of baby Owen Mitchell. "We [council members] were deeply saddened by that. It was just awful. And it certainly makes a case to have an air ambulance here."

It's an unfortunate way to get a point across, she said, but the Mitchell's sad story does validate that there is a need and Council would like for government to take measures to prevent such a case from repeating itself.

"We had requested a meeting with [Health] Minister Jerome Kennedy a while back to discuss health concerns but he didn't make it in," said Barnes. "I am sure he is very busy dealing with the H1N1 issue; but we decided to write him a letter expressing our concerns and highlighting some of the most prevalent issues we have here."

The mayor hopes the minister will revisit the some of the protocols currently in place and identify the existing arrangement with the air ambulances being stationed in St. John's and St. Anthony simply is not working because of the distance and time.

In the letter to the minister, Barnes pointed out the case of the local family who'd lost an infant son after an air ambulance took 11 hours to reach the hospital in Labrador West and stated.

"The service currently provided is not satisfactory."

Barnes, on behalf of Council, offered the following suggestions to the minister:

1. The process that is in place for local doctors to request and receive approval for the air ambulance to be dispatched to Labrador West is, at best, cumbersome and time consuming in circumstances when time is of the essence. A review of this procedure with direct input from local health care professionals should be undertaken in an attempt to optimize this service and minimize delays in response.

2. The current arrangement of two air ambulances, one in St. John's and one in St. Anthony should be revisited. Our region is located approximately 800 km from St. Anthony and 1200 km from St. John's. Labrador West is a heavy industrial region, where mining and associated support industries pose a greater potential to need the air ambulance service especially given the absence locally for specialized diagnostic and surgical intervention that is most often required in emergency situations. It is Council's position that an air ambulance should be stationed in Labrador and specifically in Labrador West.

In the past local health care professionals have made use of the air ambulance service from Quebec when there were delays in service from our own province. It is our understanding that this practice is no longer utilized to the extent that it once was. This arrangement should be revisited and be made available as a potential option to the provincial service when it is deemed necessary.

The letter was sent last week to Minister Jerome Kennedy with a copy forwarded onto Labrador West MHA Jim Baker.