(This is the third in a series of articles from the 2019 Campbell River Emergency Preparedness Trade Show.)

By Roy L Hales

People in the remote indigenous communities surrounding Vancouver Island occasionally wait days before they can access the advanced medical facilities in Vancouver. According to David Carsen, of Land Forest People Consulting, “Air ambulance does the very best they can … [but] there is only so many machines and, from time to time, they are not able to respond.” Patients in Kyuquot, for example, have been forced to make a 6 – 8 hour trip to Campbell River by ambulance. Homalco Air Rescue is a First Nations initiative that will provide much needed evacuation and medical transportation service in less than an hour.

Land Forest People Consulting partnered with Wildcat Helicopters in a proposal to make a Bell 412 EP helicopter available 24/7.

“The machine has quite a range, We’re basically from Homalco in Campbell River and can serve anywhere on Vancouver island, some of the islands and coastal area to the east. With refuelling, we can go to Bella Bella and back with one fuel stop.”

They should be able to respond to a call from Bute Inlet, for example, in 45 minutes.

“It is meant to be a 15 minute call from being on the ground and then from Bute we have the speed and range to take that person to Vancouver General Hospital all in one flight without refuelling. They can pick up patients within that first hour, that golden hour. The machine comes with a critical care paramedic and all the equipment on site. It’s what is called a HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) approach to things, where it is not go and grab and take the patient to hospital but [instead] bring health care to the patient. That patient in the Bute would be under critical care within 45 minutes and in Vancouver General within half an hour to 45 minutes after that”

Predetermined Flight Paths

Bad weather and lack of visibility, especially after sundown, often restrict air trafffic.

” What we are going to be offering with Homalco Air Rescue is predefined instrument flight paths. Communities are already working with Homalco Air Rescue on their ground protocols, the location of their heliport and radio communication.”

The flight paths to partner communities will be programmed into the helicopter.

“So pilots can fly in under pretty much any condition except icing.”

Getting Operational

Carsen hopes Homalco Air Rescue will commence operation next spring.

“We’ve been talking to communities for two years now … What we’ve been doing so far is letting remote communities know about the service and sign them up … so that we can go to political leadership and say we have this groundswell of community support. They recognize the need and are asking you, from a political point of view, to make it happen. We have the website, homalcoairrescue.com. You can see all the communities within range and all the communities that we have written support from, verbal support from and all the communities that we haven’t had a chance to visit yet … because it is a big coast and there are lots of communities.”

(There is much more in the podcast.)