Editor:
My husband is a palliative care patient in Gibsons, with multiple medical problems. He has to travel to Lions Gate Hospital every four to six weeks to get a procedure done that cannot be done at Sechelt Hospital.
We usually take an ambulance, as he cannot sit up for a long period of time. We have been told that as he doesn’t need medical assistance while travelling, he now has to use the private SN Transport company. This is reasonable as it leaves ambulances free for emergency calls. Reasonable until we were quoted the cost – $114.36 per hour, plus tax, plus ferry fare. Or billed per trip, $331 one way. Return, $662 plus tax, plus ferry fare. If their unit has to come from Vancouver, we have to pay that travel time to Gibsons as well.
I was told both the driver and attendant have a First Aid ticket and if there is a medical emergency while in transit they pull over and call for an ambulance.
This company is under contract with the government and are not subsidized like the BC Ambulance Service is. The cost to us for the same round trip by ambulance is $160.
We are wondering if anyone else in the community has come across this service and its costs. There is no way we can afford it. If this is going to be our transfer service, then the provincial government should subsidize it.
Mary Frisch, Gibsons
