by Valorie Lennox
The Review

For a sick child in Prince
Rupert, the facilities of Vancouver-
based B.C. Children’s Hospital are
1,000 miles away.

A few days before his second
birthday, Kevin Chau developed a
yellowish tinge to his skin. His
mother, Quan, took him to Prince
Rupert Hospital where a blood test
revealed the toddler's hemoglobin
was low, limiting the supply of
oxygen to his cells.

“T found his face got very yel-
low,” said Quan, a Vietnamese
immigrant who has lived in Prince
Rupert for 11 years. “He just went
“in the hospital yesterday evening.”

By morning hospital staff
decided to transfer Kevin to Chil-
dren’s Hospital in Vancouver for

HIGH SPEED

QUAN CHAU holds Kevin, who suffered an allergic reaction.

further tests. The call went to the
provincial dispatch centre at 11
a.m. Feb. 28.

3 p.m. A Lear jet carrying an
infant transfer team Jands at Prince

- Rupert airport, assigned to take

Kevin and his mother on the flight
to Vancouver

“Air ambulance makes the tip
so fast, it’s good for the patient
and for children,” said Quan, bun-
died on a stretcher with her son in
her arms.

A black and burgundy striped
helicopter, piloted by Steve Mor-
row, brought mother and child
from the hospital on the mainland
to the island airport.

On contract from Vancouver
Island Helicopter, the helicopter
and the pilot meet Medivac’s strict
standards: dual engines and a rat-
ing for instrument night flying.

The helicopter’s flashy paint, car-
peting, leather seats and burgundy
curtains are all reminders of for-
mer owner Donald Trump, pilot
Morrow notes.

The Lear jet is another unit
Operated on contract to the provin-
cial Air Ambulance service. Pilots
Craig Wiebe and Dan Jorgensen
have each been flying air ambul-
ance for about two years.

The plane is owned by Canada
Jet and is based in Vancouver,
along with infant transport team
members Neil Edgecumbe and
Bob Noble.

Flying up to Prince Rupert, the
jet brought back a patient who had
been rushed to Vancouver the
previous Tuesday due to pregnancy
complications. By Friday, her con-
dition is stable and she can retum
home.

“Our specialty is premature
babies, anything under 37 weeks;
pediatric patients and high-risk
pregnancy,’ Edgecumbe
explained.

The jet is fitted with on-board
oxygen, portable suction units,
monitoring equipment, a stretcher
platform and 110 volt power for
incubators.

Fortunately for Review reporter
Valorie Lennox, there was also
room on the flight for an extra
passenger. Lennox had been
dropped off in Prince Rupert by an
earlier air ambulance flight when
the plane was diverted to Smithers
to pick up an additional patient.

4:55 p.m. Patient transfers com-

Continued from Page C5
heavily. If the patient suffered a
concussion in the crash, too much
sedation is dangerous.

A strong tail wind pushes the jet
to an estimated 500 miles per hour.
By 9:42 p.m. the plane is descend-
ing towards the city of Quesnel,
seen as a faint glow of light on the
horizon.

“We go as fast as we can,
always,” Isaac remarks.

An ambulance waits on the
deserted runway and whisks the
paramedics to the local hospital.

Enroute, Patterson gets details of
the accident from the local ambul-
ance driver. He learns the woman
had been crossing an intersection
in the Cariboo town when her car
was broadsided by another vehicle.

In the small waiting room
adjoining the hospital emergency
ward, family and friends of the
accident victim huddle in an anx-
10us cluster.

Whispering, they talk about the
accident. The victim’s name is
Maria; her husband is with her in
the emergency ward; they have a
three-year-old daughter.

The paramedics take 40 minutes
to ensure Maria is stabilized and as
comfortable as possible. She is
strapped securely into a clamshell
stretcher which holds her body
between two rigid frames.

A tube runs from her nose down
her air passage into her stomach,
bypassing the gag reflex of the
throat.

The paramedics reassure the
family before taking the patient
out to the waiting ambulance.
Lights flashing and siren wailing,
the ambulance speeds to the air-
port where Maria is slid into the
plane.

As the paramedics connect
tubes and monitors to the woman,
the pilots start the plane’s engines
and taxi down the runway.

At the last moment, the parame-
dics drop into their seats and strap
themselves in. The jet takes off,

A Rk Ree oe ae ree eee a a

the whine of the turbines punc-
tuated by steady bleeps from the
patient monitor.

Suddenly the bleeps merge into
a high-pitched scream, Maria
desperately waves one free hand
and her chest heaves.

“Tevel out, level out!” Patterson
yells to the pilots. He jerks loose
one of the straps. He and Harmon
grab the stretcher and tilt it sidew-
ays as the patient vomits onto the
plane floor.

Immobilized by the straps, the
patient could choke on her own
vomit if the stretcher remained
horizontal or if the plane contin-
ued to climb.

The plane is now in level flight,
although Isaac warms the parame-
dics he must gradually climb to
clear upcoming mountains.

Harmon attaches a small stom-
ach pump to the nasal tube and
tries to empty Maria’s stomach,
despite clumps of half-digested
food which plug the pump.

Patterson flicks on a bright work
light and reaches across the con-
fined space to pull out supplies
from the rear of the plane. He
gives the woman a small dose of
gravol to control nausea and act as
a sedative.

The patient lies quietly, fes-
tooned with loops of tubing, some
clear, some silvery aqua, some
emerald green. Patterson takes her
pulse from her feet, one way of
checking to ensure there is no
damage to the major blood vessels
leading to the lower body.

Her toes twitch. The pulse is
strong.

Finished with the stomach
pump, Harmon talks softly to the
woman. Suddenly the monitor
screams and Maria’s body quivers.

Again the paramedics whip off
the restraining strap and tilt the
stretcher as the woman vomits.

Harmon notes the vomiting is an
almost inevitable result of the
shock to the body caused by the
accident and the motion of the jet.

He tries again to clear the
woman’s stomach with the pump.

Vancouver’s lights, jewel-stewn
velvet, glow in the darkness ahead.
The jet descends, approaching
Vancouver International Airport.

The monitor screams, Maria’s
hand twitches, her chest heaves.
Harmon grabs her hand, kneels
beside her, urges her to fight the
nausea.

The jet is approaching the run-
way and the pilots cannot level
out. Nor can the paramedics tilt
the stretcher while the plane is
landing.

“Just hold on, Maria. Just a few
more minutes,’’ Harmon urges.
Maria clenches her hand, fighting
the urge to vomit.

As the jet wheels touch down
and the plane slows, the parame-
dics again tilt the stretcher. But
Maria has successfully beaten
down the nausea. She does not
vomit.

Deftly, she is transferred to an
ambulance for the ride to Van-
couver General Hospital, accom-
panied by Patterson.

The pilots quickly obtain clear-
ance for the flight back to Victoria.
They are almost at “time-out,”
the 15-hour limit after which they
are no longer permitted to fly —
and they do not want to spend the
night in Vancouver.

1 a.m. Citation CG-BCB lands
at Victoria Airport, exactly 15
hours after this crew started their
shift at 10 a.m. the previous day.

Time to go home.

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TheReview Wednesday, March 25, 1992 —

mbulance takes sick children to hospital

plete, the Lear jet takes off from
Prince Rupert. The fastest jet in
the service, it reaches speeds of
520 miles per hour and can make
the trip from Prince Rupert to
Vancouver in one hour and five
minutes.

“Tt’s fast, that’s the main thing.
Speed,” says Edgecumbe.

But the tip is not fast enough
for Kevin, who crankily endured a
series of needles and examinations
all morning and is now confined in
an airplane, with an intravenous
tube attached to his hand and a
monitor clip on one small finger.

To entertain Kevin, Edgecumbe
blows a surgical glove up into a
balloon; with a felt pen, Noble
draws on cartoon-style eyes and a

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Sidney and Peninsula Kiwanis Housing Society is
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bedroom rental townhouses will be available to qualify-
ing applicants at 30% of household income.

lf you are in need of affordable housing, please lend
your support by registering with the Sidney and
Peninsula Kiwanis Housing Society.

Application forms are available at:

REMAX REALTY, 2444 Beacon Ave.

until March 30th
For further information, please call the Society at

656-7156 or 656-7717

grin, creating a whimsical face
with a ‘thumb’ nose and a four-
finger top-fringe.

Both ambulance attendants have
children. Edgecumbe has four
daughters and Noble has a six-
month-old son.

“The job makes you realize it’s
a great thing to have healthy
children,” Edgecumbe said. “I
can’t imagine what it would be
like to have a very sick son or
daughter. I really empathize with
the parents.”

A small dose of chloral hydrate
helps calm Kevin for the rest of the
flight. At 6 p.m., the jet arrives in
Vancouver. An ambulance trans-
ports Kevin and his mother to
Children’s Hospital.

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