Letters to the Editor -
(This letter was sent from Dr. Vara Mahadevan to premier Danny Williams)
Dear Hon. Williams,
First of all this is not to blame anybody in the St. Anthony air ambulance affair. This is a note from a family physician who lived and worked in St. Anthony for over five years. I am not an expert who writes reports. I am a proud front line health care worker. I work with the sick and needy and don't have any political aspirations.
I went through the Drodge report on the air ambulance. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. This is like someone walking into my house, going through my desk, and telling me what I should have and what I shouldn't have.
There are two kinds of reports. The first is writing them after doing unbiased research and consulting different people and front line workers. The second is pre-determined. You take a decision and then write a report to suit the decision. The Drodge report is obviously the second variety.
I worked in St. Anthony from 2005 to 2009. I think I have done more Medevacs than any other physician in St. Anthony - in fact, any other physician in the whole province. Sorry I don't have the exact statistics (your health ministry has them). During this tenure of mine I didn't meet Mr. Drodge or any other person who prepared this report. In fact he didn't bother to meet any front line workers like the physicians, nurses, paramedics or pilots. I am not sure whom he met and how many days he spent in St. Anthony.
The statistics he has quoted in his report are freely available with the ministry of health. We don't need to pay someone to come from another province to look at your own statistics and suggest what you need. Did he speak to anyone at all before he prepared his report? How many days did he spend in either St. Anthony or Happy Valley-Goose Bay?
In the report, point number three in Methodology mentions that he has met with town councils and two families in Goose Bay and Labrador City. Did he meet any of the physicians or any frontline workers in any of these towns? Did he meet any families in St. Anthony? Did he tour the Northern Peninsula and Southern Labrador? I could have named at least fifteen families in St. Anthony and surrounding areas who he should have met before he prepared this one-sided report. They would have told him true stories of survival, thanks to the air ambulance.
Let me tell you a quick story. Two summers ago there was a terrible motorbike accident around three in the afternoon. Thanks to the air ambulance stationed in St. Anthony we were able to transport the patient to the health science centre St. John's within two and a half hours. Patient survived. I guarantee you that this young man would have died without Air ambulance.
I have many such survival stories to tell. Please don't wait till someone loses their life to reverse your decision. On the grass root level I could tell from my experience that moving the air Ambulance away from St. Anthony will be followed by many lives lost.
When patients need to be air lifted to St. John's, nurses and doctors living in St. Anthony respond to the call. They transport the patients in a very efficient manner. Please remember that these doctors or nurses are not paid to be on call for the medevacs. Most of the times after they drop off patients in St. John's and fly back in the air ambulance to St. Anthony to its base. This helps them continue their regular work the next day. If the air ambulance is taken away I do not think that any of the nurses or doctors will be willing to accompany patients as they have to depend on Provincial Airlines for their return journey which could be the next day or, most of the time, two or three days. This will drastically effect the patient transfers. In this cycle the doctors in St. Anthony will be under tremendous pressure to hold and handle complicated patients. This doesn't help to recruit and retain physicians and nurses. Beyond this, it is not good patient care. I don't want myself or my family members stranded in this situation in St. Anthony. Would you, Mr. Williams?
I am not sure this decision is political or not but the way it was made has made everyone think this is a sweet revenge. I am not sure whether Goose Bay needs an air ambulance or not. That needs to be researched and studied by experts within the health region. 'Experts' means not the hospital administrators but the frontline healthcare workers like doctors, nurses, paramedics, lab technicians and, most importantly, the patients.
If it's found there is a need for an air ambulance in Goose Bay, your government should brainstorm different ideas to raise funds for it. This should not be at the expense of another community like St. Anthony.
Mr. Williams, you were in a similar situation with Stephen Harper's federal government before. You hate him because he decides and dictate what you need. He doesn't care to consult the needs of your people and province. He behaves like a dictator. According to you he makes decisions based on reports written by people who have no idea how Newfoundland functions. You even went to the extreme of lowering the Canadian flag. Do you realize that you are now behaving like Stephen? The difference is you are doing the same to the people of the Northern Peninsula.
Mr. Williams, this letter has no intention to advise you how to run your government or take decisions. I thought it was my duty to respectfully point out a wrong decision taken based on a totally unprofessional and biased report. Every case has another side. It's sad you're not willing to hear that in this case.
I beg you to reconsider your decision to move the air ambulance from St. Anthony. After the amalgamation of the healthcare boards there is utter confusion in the management as Goose Bay manages affairs of St. Anthony by remote control. There will be slow death of a healthcare system founded by the great Grenfell Mission if you proceed in this course.
Please consider revising this decision now as it may be harder after you find few avoidable deaths.
Thanks for the patient reading,
Sincerely,
Dr. Vara Mahadevan
Family Physician Uxbridge, ON
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