Residents of Quadra Island are worried about being stranded ashore when medical emergencies occur at night because BC Ferries can’t guarantee a crew for sailings to get ambulances across to the hospital in Campbell River.
A petition with close to 1,000 signatures is circulating in the community of 2,700 full-time residents calling on B.C.’s Transportation Minister Rob Fleming to work with BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) and BC Ferries to reinstate off-hour ferry service so ambulances can get patients to hospital in a timely manner.
One resident signing the petition said her dad had to wait in the back of an ambulance for five hours in incredible pain from a stomach aneurysm without access to pain medication before the air ambulance arrived.