New LifeFlight plane to transport non-critical patients to Halifax from Sydney, Yarmouth

Nova Scotia’s Health Department has unveiled a new LifeFlight airplane that will transport non-critical patients from Yarmouth and Sydney to Halifax for routine services.

Officials with the department say the new plane is meant to reduce wait times by freeing up ambulances that usually drive several hours from one end of the province to the Halifax area.

During the unveiling Friday, Health Minister Michelle Thompson said the trip from either end of the province to Halifax can take about five hours by road, while the new aircraft will be able to make those trips in less than an hour.

“Not only is this going to provide great relief to the patients and their loved ones, it’s going to free up a number of paramedics on the ground to respond to emergencies in their communities,” Thompson said.

To start, two to four patients will be transported per trip, with a total of three trips each day, seven days a week, she said.

“Based on these numbers, we will be able to keep anywhere from six to 12 ambulances in their community each shift,” Thompson said. “As a rural province, bringing people to the city, particularly from our rural communities, can take a long time.”

Charbel Daniel is the executive director of provincial operations at Emergency Medical Care Inc., a company that manages ground ambulance, air medical transport operations and medical communications in Nova Scotia.

Daniel said annually, about 55,000 transfers are made across the province, most of which are done by ground and include long-haul trips for patients and paramedics.

Daniel Gee, a primary-care paramedic who will be on the new plane’s team, said beyond the logistical and operational costs of the long-haul transfers, the “human cost” is also high and the new plane is a step toward improving conditions for both patients and paramedics.

“We want to be helping people in their time of need, [but] when we get to work in the morning and we discover we have to be spending 10-plus hours of our shift just driving it, it takes a real toll on our desire to be in the program and the desire to be working with the EHS,” Gee said.

“It’s uncomfortable, it’s time-consuming, you’re away from your family, you’re away from your home,” he said.

“This new program is designed to get you not only to your appointments to clinics in the HRM, it’s designed to get you back with your loved ones, back in your community — back home.”