Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The devastating deadly crash last week just north of Fort Providence has, clearly, troubled many residents of the Northwest Territories. Such accidents, although rare, open the debate about how our government emergency systems work in remote parts of our highway network. One only has to stop and ask, what if that was my wife or kids or neighbour. Even the Minister of Transportation indicated today we all have a role to play. Does our government have the proper rescue and medical support framework to act accordingly? I believe the answer to this question is maybe.
In essence, your chance of survival clearly depends on what location you would be in the event of a severe auto accident. Should this accident happen between Yellowknife and Rae, the Yellowknife Fire Department is under jurisdiction to respond, yet beyond Rae you’re on your own. Although we pray for all families involved, the accident last week clearly proved that our systems of emergency response, patient mobilization, dispatch, medical support and medical transport are in dire need of an overhaul or, at best, a plan.
I say this as non-government and non-industry information has been given to me that clearly begs to ask some serious questions as to emergency response systems and protocol. For example, why did medical travel request a medevac helicopter staffed with two skilled Yellowknife Fire Department EMTs, auto extrication NFPA-1001 certified firemen only to be told to stand down when the chopper was ready to lift off. How did this non-aviation extraction delay the care of the victim, keeping in mind that a round trip to the crash site and back to Stanton Hospital would have been approximately two hours? How is a ground transport to Fort Providence and eventually medevacced to Stanton Hospital two hours later more efficient than a direct helicopter medevac? Who is making these decisions?
We now know that a victim was transported from the crash site in a health centre van. Was this a professionally equipped van ambulance or just a passenger van? How was the patient secured? Does this van have any emergency medical transporting standards? What level of care was provided to the patient on his 84-kilometre drive to Fort Providence?
Unfortunately, deadly accidents all too often forces one to review the safety and security of our residents. Our Cabinet has been asked many times in this House about the highway emergency response capabilities and our medical support systems and procedures. Last week’s accident proves that our questioning was warranted. We need a plan, but first we need to ask the appropriate questions. I will have such questions for the first round for the Minister of Health later today.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
