Patients further from help

It took just $6100 and three months to produce an 11-page report that moved the air ambulance from St Anthony to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

In response to an Access to Information request made by the Pen, deputy minister of health Bruce Cooper said Wes Drodge was hired on December 16, 2009 to complete an independent report into the air ambulance service of Newfoundland and Labrador.

On March 16, Mr Drodge had completed his report.

Nine days later health minister, Jerome Kennedy, announced the service was moving to Happy Valley-Goose Bay — a decision affecting thousands of people in Northern Newfoundland and Southern Labrador.

The move went ahead on June 4 even though the health department was, and still is, trying to recruit a Medical Flight Team to accompany the air ambulance.

Increased flight times

Drodge’s report concluded that the air ambulance should be moved from St Anthony to Happy Valley-Goose Bay despite the fact the Department of Health was aware medevac flight times would increase to airports on the island of Newfoundland and in Labrador.

A January 7 email sent by air ambulance head pilot Ben Farrell to Department of Health emergency health services analyst Karen Nolan, released to the Pen through an Access to Information request, shows that flight times using the King Air, which was at the time based in St Anthony, would increase if the craft were moved to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

That email lists the following increased medevac response times in the King Air when based in Goose Bay rather than St Anthony: Winterland from 60 to 100 minutes, Gander from 40 to 75 minutes, Deer Lake from 40 minutes to 65 minutes, Blanc Sablon from 12 to 40 minutes and Exploits from 35 to 70 minutes. Only Wabush would see a decrease from 95 to 50 minutes.

Out of the airports listed in the email, only two — Gander and Winterland — are closest to the province’s other air ambulance which is based in St John’s.

Further from help

According to the flight times listed in the email, moving the aircraft to Goose Bay has left the people of Deer Lake, Exploits, St Anthony and Stephenville further from medevac help, as well as the people of Blanc Sablon who have seen their response time more than double.

Between 2006 and 2009 that equated to some 903 patients, according to data included in the Department of Health’s response to the Pen.

Going by those stats, that means 56 per cent of patients would now see an increase of medevac response time anywhere between five and 40 minutes.

Independence questioned

Meanwhile the opposition last week called for an inquiry and the resignation of Mr Kennedy citing information indicating that Mr Drodge’s report was neither independent nor properly researched.

The Straits-White Bay North MHA Marshall Dean cited emailssent between Mr Drodge and Ms Nolan.

Those emails were obtained through a separateAccess to Information request.

“The most obvious point is the list of things from Karen Nolan,” Mr Dean told the Pen last week.

“She’s continually throwing things at Drodge to suggest he’s going in the wrong direction and personally I think she realized he didn’t know where he was going. This lady in the middle there seems as though she realizes this consultant is not on track with what the department wants, so to speak.

“I understand that you need statistics and data to prepare a report, but why are you looking to ... the department to look at your report, to critique it, for suggestions on it? If it’s an independent report you’d think you’d be looking for an outside expert who can offer unbiased opinions about where [the air ambulance] should be, but that was never done.”

Mr Dean also questioned why Mr Drodge was travelling with the assistant deputy health minister to do research for an independent report and why he asked what the current health minister, Mr Kennedy, thought of the air ambulance program.

“[Mr Drodge] was very curious about what the current minister had to say about anything — any emails, any press releases, any open line comments — anything the current minister had to say about the air ambulance program, he had to know,” Mr Dean said.

“I would think you wouldn’t want to know, in fact you’d prefer not to know, if you were trying to be down the middle of the road with your conclusions and objective with your suggestions.

“This is what we’ve been saying all along — the report was rushed, it’s unprofessional, it lacks detail and in fact the whole thing is flawed.

“Why would they rush something through that is of such importance to the lives and well-being of the people in this province? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Mr Kennedy declined to speak with the Pen about the air ambulance flight time information, but in response to Mr Dean’s call for the minister’s resignation he told the Telegram last week that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“This is just simply a continuation ... of the insinuations and allegations by the opposition and [St Anthony] Mayor Simms for months,” he said.

“There’s nothing new to any of this. I’ve got a multi billion department to run.”

egraney@northernpen.ca