While a storm that left B.C.’s major roadways broken and entire communities flooded raged, a team of physicians from Metro Vancouver was assembled to help transfer a seriously injured patient.
The team was made up of two critical care physicians and a respiratory therapist from Surrey Memorial Hospital who drove to the Fraser Valley on Monday, Nov. 15. They were joined by an emergency physician from Fraser Canyon Hospital, who met them in Abbotsford. The group gathered additional medication to support the Fraser Canyon Hospital and long-term care residents in the Hope area.
The group was then escorted by first responders on back roads, where they met up with CN Rail staff in Chilliwack. The mini-ICU team then boarded a CN track vehicle, with CN driving slowly along rail lines sounded by debris from the storm.
The medical team at Fraser Canyon Hospital had stabilized the patient but knew they needed a higher level of care as soon as possible states a release from Fraser Health. The two physicians and respiratory therapist were able to support the medical team at the hospital until an air ambulance arrived on Tuesday morning.
The patient was then flown by air ambulance to a Lower Mainland hospital and is in stable condition.
