Beatty: incident shows need to strengthen emergency response in remote areas
Valerie G. Barnes Connell Jordan
Daily Herald
Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) has questions for both the Federal and Provincial governments after a Southend couple were stranded for close to 48 hours on Milton Island.
The island is about a two-and-a-half hour boat ride from Southend, on the southern shores of Reindeer Lake, according to a PBCN news release. When rescued two days later, they “required urgent medical care,” according to the news release.
“The incident shows that both levels of government must strengthen their emergency response responsibilities in the North,” PBCN Chief Peter Beatty said in the press release. “The Province oversees medical transport and EMS coordination, and the federal government oversees policing and search response. In this situation, neither system met the needs of our community.”
Beatty said reforms are needed, immediately, to prevent similar situations from occurring.
According to PBCN the RCMP were contacted, but “did not activate a search or notify search-and-rescue services.” Although they fueled a boat, they did not proceed “due to unfamiliarity with the lake system, leaving the search efforts to the community members,” which was complicated by the lack of cell service in the area.
After receiving the report of the missing couple, the Southend RCMP assessed the situation finding that there was poor weather conditions, high winds, and frigid temperatures with periods of heavy rain and snow making boat and aerial searches impossible and “too dangerous to involve searchers,” according to an RCMP statement provided to the Daily Herald. The RCMP instead decided they would wait till daylight. The decision was made in consultation with Saskatchewan RCMP Search and Rescue, the RCMP said.
The RCMP coordinated with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA) but weather conditions continued to hamper RCMP and CASARA attempts to assist. And Southend RCMP areas, partnerships and collaborative efforts are, and will continue to be – vital in providing emergency services in some situations – including during this rescue in one of Saskatchewan’s remote areas,” quoted from the RCMP statement.
The were also challenges finding medical transportation from the area after floatplanes in La Ronge were grounded due to frozen bays. The Saskatchewan Health Authority confirmed it did not have rotary-wing medical transport contract for northern Saskatchewan, and STARS Air Ambulance was unavailable, resulting in air rescue being unavailable, “in a place when rapid evacuation was needed,” according to the PBCN news release.
Communication was also a challenge, when responders were forced to “repeatedly all 911 to activate medical services,” even with cell service in the area.
Meanwhile, the community set up a Starlink Mini to relay GPS co-ordinates to assist with the search.
The couple had left Southend by boat at approximately 2 p.m. on Nov. 13, on the journey, their boat began to take on water. By the time they reached Milton Island, they were stranded.
It took six hours to arrange a helicopter, with no helicopter medevac system in place.
“La Ronge EMS provided care during the flight and the couple is now safe,” reads the news release.
“Throughout the ordeal, the couple – cold and wet – survived by huddling under a shared blanket on spruce boughs and keeping a fire burning the entire time.”
When they failed to return home as expected, family members launched a search.
When found Nov. 15, the couple were “suffering from hypothermia after two days in sub-zero temperatures,” according to the PBCN news release.
“We welcome dialogue with community partners on how we can continue to work together to ensure non-criminal emergency services, such as medical, fire and search-and-rescue response are available in all Saskatchewan communities,” reads the RCMP statement.
According to a statement from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), When the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) was made aware of the medical emergency on Reindeer Lake, “the helicopter arrived with a medical crew, was approximately 4.5 hours.”
They do review medical emergencies to “determine if any gaps occurred and to identify any opportunities to make improvements,” according to the Government of Saskatchewan statement.
