A Sault Ste. Marie woman may have died as a result of not having the Ornge Air Ambulance available.
The daughter of the deceased, tells FirstLocalNews.com that her Mother, Nancy Blais aged 66, suffered a stroke on August 18th.
Nicole who is the daughter tells FirstLocalNews.com she was rushed to Sault Area Hospital where it was determined the patient would be better served in Sudbury as the Sault hospital didn’t have the resources for blood clots in the brain.
Sault Area Hospital tried several attempts to arrange an Ornge Air Ambulance to Sudbury where the procedure could be done.
No air ambulance were available.
Ontario has only 8 air ambulances for the entire province.
“Every hour matters when you’re dealing with a stroke” Nicole said in a phone interview.
Sault Area Hospital made arrangements for her Mother to be driven to Sudbury via land ambulance.
Her Mother died in the Sudbury hospital and Nicole wonders if the outcome would have been better if her Mother was able to get the procedure done quicker if the air ambulance was available.
A man in Hearst Ontario also died waiting for the air ambulance earlier this Summer. That case is under an investigation.
Nicole said that her Mother’s case is under review with a patient advocate within the Ornge organization. She will wait for results of that investigation before escalating the matter further.
“How many people need to die because we don’t have the proper resources in the north?” Nicole said. In the meantime she wanted to tell the story to bring awareness to the dire health situation in Northern Ontario when it comes to emergency situations regarding Ontario’s Air Ambulance services.
FirstLocalNews.com reached out to Sault Ste. Marie M.P.P. Ross Romano , however he was not readily available for comment.
What is going on with our health care? Things like this should never happen.
What’s going on with healthcare ? I’ll tell you…
Cut the healthcare budget so it doesn’t work, then introduce private paid healthcare as the ‘solution:.
Direct from the conservative handbook.
Of course Romano wasnt “readily available” for comment. There wasnt a photo op for him. And he usually isnt arojnd when needed.
Sorry for this loss.i guess we do not count only on election day.