Rural family’s hunt for Sask. hospital bed ends with $1,300 ambulance bill

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A family from Biggar says a lack of nearby emergency services has left them paying a big cost.

Amy Haynes said an ambulance was called for her three-year-old son Nolan this spring, after he came down with a severe fever above 40° C.

They took him to the local clinic, where they were told a fever that severe could lead to seizure and that emergency care was required.

While calling for an ambulance, the family was told there were no available beds at all three hospitals in Saskatoon, and none in North Battleford or Swift Current.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to access care,” Haynes told CBC. “It was just frustrating that nowhere had a spot for us.”

The only solution was a two-and-a-half-hour ambulance ride to Prince Albert.

That one-way trip came at a price tag of $1,300.

Amy Haynes said she was frustrated when a one-way ambulance ride to Prince Albert came at a price tag of over $1,300. The long drive was caused by a lack of beds in nearby hospitals. (Halyna Mihalik/CBC)

Haynes said getting the bill in the mail was upsetting, but not unexpected.

“I was very bitter knowing that I was going to get it and when I got it, it was not surprising,” she said. “Which is unfortunate, but it’s not our responsibility that there were no beds closer.”

Doctors believed Nolan had a type of pneumonia. He received care in Prince Albert for a few days before the family could return home.

A boy with rosy cheeks from a fever sleeps in his mom's arms in a hospital bed. — Nolan Haynes received hospital care in Prince Albert after being turned away from six hospitals closer to home. (Submitted by Amy Haynes)

The provincial Opposition NDP highlighted the family’s story at a news conference in Biggar on Wednesday.

“It does send a really chilling message to a lot of people through rural Saskatchewan: when you dial 911, where are you going to be taken?” NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said.

“There’s the financial cost of that. But also that extra 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers in some cases could be the difference between somebody surviving a traumatic incident and not.”

Jorgensen said the case raises serious questions about the impact of hospital capacity pressures on patients and families.

The provincial government told CBC it’s working to expand capacity in Saskatoon hospitals by adding another 146 beds.

It noted ambulance services are not an insured benefit under the Canada Health Act and there is no coverage for ambulance transport between hospitals.