‘I just had the feeling that nobody cared’

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This article was published 15/03/2023 (907 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Fearing for her life is how 79-year-old Eleanor Buechler describes an air ambulance trip from Brandon to Winnipeg because of the way she says she was mistreated in freezing conditions.

Buechler suffered a heart attack in early February and was rushed by ambulance to Brandon Regional Health Centre, where she spent two nights before it was decided she required further testing. She would need to be flown to the St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg for an angiogram.

“I thought I was going to die on this trip. I didn’t expect to make it to Winnipeg,” Buechler said.

The problem wasn’t fear of flying — it was the way she was transported to Winnipeg from the Brandon Municipal Airport.

“They loaded me up on the stretcher in Brandon, covered me with blankets and away we went. I thought ‘well, I’m safe now, I’m going to fly to Winnipeg.’ But when we got to the airport, it all went wrong from there.”

In 2019, the Manitoba government announced it would be entering into an agreement with private air carriers for patient transfers and has since used Bearskin Lake Air Service, Calm Air, Custom Helicopters, Keewatin Air, and Perimeter Aviation, which flies in and out of Brandon.

Shared Health could not confirm which airline company was used to transport Buechler last month.

Pyjama bottoms, hospital gown outside in winter weather

On the morning of Feb. 3, the temperature felt like -31 C with the wind chill, when Buechler’s ground ambulance pulled up to the parked airplane, which she said hadn’t been running upon her arrival.

Dressed in clothes she had been wearing when rushed to the hospital days earlier, Buechler was asked by staff if she could walk to the plane.

“I’m 79 years old, I had on pyjama bottoms, my housecoat, bare feet in slip-on shoes and a hospital gown, and that’s all, and they told me to walk to the airplane. So, I did. They’re paramedics, they should know what they’re doing,” Buechler said.

Brandon recently acquired three stretcher vehicles to take over the transport of patients in and around the city who are categorized as low acuity, meaning they are classified as stable, with no emergency symptoms or need for immediate treatment.

The stretcher vehicles are meant to free up ambulances and paramedics. The vehicle operators are trained in first aid and CPR, but they are not paramedics.

It’s not known if the stretcher service was used to transport Buechler, or if it was an ambulance from Brandon Fire and Emergency Services with paramedics on board.

Acting fire Chief Terry Parlow said without knowing which service transported Buechler to the airport, he is unable to comment, but added that on such a cold day, there should have been a plan of action.

“Our direction and what our staff do is to keep the patient as warm as possible as long as possible before entering into the air ambulance,” Parlow said. “And there are stairs going up, so the patient has to step off the stretcher onto the stairs of the airplane.”

‘I didn’t think I’d make it’

The nightmare that Buechler called her experience continued during the flight to Winnipeg as she was belted into a seat but given no additional blankets.

When the plane landed, she was asked to walk to a waiting stretcher vehicle that would eventually take her to St. Boniface Hospital, where she was asked if she could walk up a ramp or a set of stairs to get inside.

“The ramp was full of snow and was so long, so I had to try the steps. I didn’t think I’d make it because my hands were so cold trying to grasp the metal railing,” Buechler said. “But at least once I got in the hospital, there was a wheelchair waiting.”

The return trip, she said, was much better thanks to a paramedic in Winnipeg who made sure she had plenty of warm blankets and a custom-made sleeping bag used for trips up north.

Buechler didn’t share her experience with her family until she returned home to Brandon.

Gerald Buechler, Eleanor’s husband of 59 years, recently had a health scare of his own and was upset when he heard how his wife was treated.

“Eleanor and I are accepting to society, but this was too much,” he said.

The Sun contacted Shared Health late Monday afternoon with specific questions, including whether the airplane’s engine should have been running before the patient arrived, if there was a shortage of blankets on the flight, and what the protocol is for transferring a patient from a stretcher vehicle to a hospital, instead of being put on a stretcher.

According to a spokesperson, it’s Shared Health’s intention to provide patients with safe and comfortable care when in need of their services, or one of their contracted service providers.

“We regret that this individual did not feel they had a positive transport experience.”–Shared Health statement

“We regret that this individual did not feel they had a positive transport experience. While we can’t speak to a specific individual’s care, emergency response services typically account for weather conditions and need to ensure patients have appropriate winter attire for all forms of transport,” the statement said.

Buechler said she wanted to share her experience so it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s mother or grandmother.

“I just had the feeling that nobody cared, but the important thing that it doesn’t happen to somebody else because if they are older, and if they are weak and they depend on other people, they will never make that trip, absolutely not.”

— The Brandon Sun