A Labrador woman is raising the alarm about the state of our healthcare system after her father-in-law had to wait for 36 hours to be medevaced to St. John’s for care. He has since had to be put on life support.

Mallory Harrigan says her 73-year-old father-in-law required urgent medical care over the weekend. He went to the clinic in Port Hope Simpson, but there are no care beds there. He was told that because of the seriousness of his condition, he would have to be flown to St. John’s.

Harrigan says the family waited for a day and a half, during which time they were initially told the team was on their way; then they were told that the weather might become an issue. After waiting so long, he had to be put on life support upon reaching St. John’s.

Harrigan is questioning why there aren’t 24/7 teams ready to respond if someone needs help.

She says the family voted in favour of resettlement four years ago and moved from William’s Harbour in order to receive better healthcare. Harrigan says the man received 36 hours of “blatant neglect” and if he has to go on dialysis for the rest of his life, he will have to relocate again.

Meanwhile, Eugene Nippard, who has been advocating for better medevac services for years, calls the situation “terrible”, noting this exact situation is why he has been pushing government.

He’s urging area MPs and MHAs to act and talk to government to make sure more people don’t end up on life support.