Life-saving efforts highlight importance of rural ERs, says Clarenville doctor
There was an explosion at the refinery in Come By Chance, about 45 kilometres down the Trans-Canada Highway on the isthmus of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula. Eight people were injured, some critically.
What followed was an event that experts say had the potential to overwhelm emergency services in even the busiest cities in Canada, but it was handled swiftly by a collaboration of paramedics, firefighters, pilots and staff, centred on a small eight-bed emergency department in Clarenville.
I cannot help but wonder how many of our small rural hospitals across SW Ontario and elsewhere would have handled such an emergency. With the hospitals in many community's closed to emergency's due to staff shortages and even mothers expecting an imminent birth being told to travel an hour or more to one of the larger facilities it is clear that something must be done to retain and recruit nursing staff and rural physicians.
Ask the folks in Wingham, Listowel, Chesley, Clinton, St. Marys, Seaforth, Mount Forest, Chesley and even Listowel and many other areas how they feel about not knowing if their local emergency Dept will be available if and when needed.....
Kinda make one want to move to Newfoundland dont it, way to go Clarenville!
Update, the above is even more remarkable given that ........
As doctor shortages force numerous emergency room closures in Newfoundland and Labrador, Eastern Health says it has put extra stress on emergency departments in the capital city.
In a statement, the health authority says both the Health Sciences Centre and St. Clare's Mercy Hospital in St. John's are dealing with "unprecedented pressures resulting in long wait times for patients."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/eastern-health-emergency-departments-1.6578719
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