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Superior North EMS Activates Snowmobile Response Unit

February 4, 2004 - Under a new program, paramedics will be responding directly to the site for patients injured in snowmobile accidents. These accidents generally occur in areas that are inaccessible by land ambulance or other motor vehicles. The Wilderness Response program was initiated on 1 Feb 04 in Thunder Bay, and has been up and running for years in Manitouwadge.

The wilderness response unit consists of a Scandik 540 snowmobile and a rescue sled completely outfitted with paramedic supplies. The snowmobile was donated by former volunteer paramedics from Manitouwadge. The rescue sled is made available via SNOPAC, the local group overseeing snowmobile safety in Thunder Bay. The vehicles are brought to the scene by our first response unit on a 20 foot enclosed trailer.

Eleven Thunder Bay paramedics recently completed an intensive training program that included snowmobile operations, rescue sled operations, transportation protocols, and wilderness survival techniques. The Thunder Bay paramedics now join their colleagues in Manitouwadge as certified in wilderness response.

"Two paramedics can now respond to an injured patient on site, rather than having that patient being brought out by untrained personnel over rough and treacherous terrain to a waiting ambulance", said Norm Gale, Manager of Quality Assurance and Training for Superior North EMS. "The trip out has been, in the past, both uncomfortable for injured people and potentially harmful" he added. Patients will be assessed and treated upon paramedic arrival, and if necessary, the patients will be fully immobilized prior to transport. If needed, paramedics can also activate an air ambulance response directly to the site of the accident.

The wilderness response unit can respond to snowmobile accidents in Thunder Bay and the surrounding area upon notification by the ambulance communications centre. The unit is able to respond twenty four hours a day.