A video making the rounds on social media last week, shows an orange snow plow lumbering its way up the steep Irvines Landing Road hill during a snow storm.
Taken by a Garden Bay resident Feb. 4, the video might not seem remarkable at first glance, but just a few second later, you can clearly see the plow is being closely followed by a heavy-duty tow truck, which in turn is towing an ambulance.
What’s not visible to the camera is that inside the ambulance, Garden Bay resident Jane McOuat was suffering extreme abdominal pain and this slow-motion parade was just part of her more-than seven-hour ordeal to get to Sechelt | shíshálh Hospital in a race against time, the ticking time bomb being an inflamed appendix the crew hoped wouldn’t rupture.
Home from the hospital and a week after her ordeal, McOuat had only praise for the dedicated emergency ambulance services crew who went above and beyond to reach her in the middle of a record-breaking snow fall. But her thoughts about the condition of the roads between Pender Harbour and Sechelt are not quite as flattering. Adding insult to injury, the heavy snow caused power outages across the Sunshine Coast and hydro crews were unable to reach many areas, including Garden Bay, due to downed trees and power lines and poor road conditions.
“We were let down by every level and by every person on all of those levels,” said McOuat, who added its government bureaucrats who need to step up and ensure roads are cleared properly during these catastrophic storms the Coast has been experiencing.
McOuat wasn't feeling well Monday night, but wasn’t concerned until she started experiencing pain in her abdomen. A former volunteer firefighter for 21 years, McOuat is trained in first aid so, after a bit of probing, she was pretty sure it was her appendix causing her symptoms.
“I pressed on my stomach in all four quadrants and when I got to my bottom right quadrant, I went, ‘Oh, that hurt so much.’ And think, well, that could be my appendix. It also could be a blockage. There are so many things that it could be, but no matter, none of them are particularly good, especially when I had a little fever.”
So, at 4:12 a.m. McOuat called the Pender Harbour Ambulance service and was told they couldn’t get to her because the crew was in Sechelt and the road was closed due to downed trees and power lines. At that point, she considered driving her trusted Subaru but was convinced not to by the crew because if it was her appendix and it ruptured while she was driving, that could be very bad. So, McOuat stayed put with the ambulance service checking in with her by phone to see how she was doing and update her on their arrival.
At 5:15 p.m., she received a phone call that the roads were clear and the ambulance was on its way, though they warned her the usual 45-minute trip would likely take twice that.
The ambulance finally arrived around 7 a.m. after making its way down Irvines Landing Road hill and passing a snow plow stuck in the ditch. They got McOuat safely tucked into the ambulance, before promptly getting stuck at the bottom of the hill, despite its chains. The ambulance then managed to get turned around on Lee Road and attempted once more to get up Irvines Landing Road, but got stuck again.
That’s when a heavy-duty tow truck was dispatched. Coincidentally, the tow truck had just helped a snow plow stuck in the ditch off Irvines Landing Road, so was able to get there in just 10 minutes.
“So, then he hooked on and we were all like, ‘Yeah, we're on our way.’ And then he was off in the ditch,” says McOuat. “I could hear him calling out and saying, ‘It's okay. I can get this out of here.'”
She said with some skillful manoeuvres the truck managed to get mobile again, hooked the ambulance back up and they made their way up the hill to Sarah Wray Hall in Pender Harbour, where they stopped and were unhooked from the tow truck.
The problem then became that the ambulance crew had timed out when it came to the number of hours they’re allowed to work, so they had to call dispatch and wait for a new crew and ambulance to arrive. McOuat was transferred to the second ambulance when it arrived and their trip to Sechelt | shíshálh Hospital started. McOuat notes, even that part of the trip took longer due to the icy/snow-packed road conditions. In total, McOuat was in the ambulance for more than three hours.
Once at the hospital, just after 11 a.m. — almost seven hours after her call for an ambulance — a team of doctors and nurses flew into action to get her into surgery to remove her appendix. She considers everyone who helped her that day, from the ambulance crews, to the tow truck and snow plow drivers, to the hydro crews and the team at the hospital as heroes.
“Two-years ago, when we were out of power for three days, hydro got stuck down at the bottom of Irvines Landing Road, and had to ask Kerry Rand [Kerr Enterprises] to dump a load of gravel on Irvines Landing Road so that they could get back out,” said McOuat. “Because we're just not looked after and it just goes on and on. I know people down the Coast, probably in Langdale, maybe feel the same way.”
In an email to Coast Reporter, BC Emergency Health Services said their ambulances are prepared to drive in wintery conditions and carry chains, but noted the road conditions on Feb. 4 on the Sunshine Coast were very challenging and “we greatly appreciate the efforts of our paramedics and dispatch staff who worked hard to provide care to patients in these circumstances.”
The email noted, the paramedic crew staffing the ambulance had reached the limit of the time they were allowed to be on duty, so the patient was transferred to a second ambulance to continue to the hospital.
“When working a 12-hour shift, paramedics may work an additional four-hours of overtime for a maximum of 16 hours, at which point they’re required to go off-duty. Not only was the original crew approaching their 16-hour limit, multiple downed power lines and trees resulted in road closures in the area that morning, contributing to the original paramedic crew’s overtime hours.”
The roads in Pender Harbour are managed by Capilano Highway Services, which are contracted by the Ministry of Transportation and Transit. Capilano did not respond to an email inquiry from Coast Reporter, while the ministry did respond, but was not able to comment prior to press deadline.
