Members of the Heiltsuk Nation in Bella Bella, B.C., are celebrating a joyful arrival with the birth of baby Anthony Bennett Johnson, the first Heiltsuk baby to be born on Heiltsuk territory in years.
And, making the moment even more special, the delivery doctor was also Heiltsuk.
The local hospital in Bella Bella, a village of about 1,200 people on Campbell Island around 480 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, isn’t equipped to deliver babies, so expectant parents usually travel to higher level medical facilities in the weeks before their due date.
But Nicole Johnson went into early labour Sunday at 34 weeks pregnant.
Bad weather meant an air ambulance couldn’t touch down, and the ferries were all booked up.
Enter Dr. Don Wilson.
Wilson, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Heiltsuk Nation, was on duty at Comox Valley Hospital in Comox, B.C., Sunday, when he got the call from a military flight surgeon.
Would he help with an obstetrical emergency in Bella Bella, Wilson’s own birthplace?
Of course.
Wilson had 45 minutes to get to the military base — and he knew he had to prepare for a lack of delivery-specific medical equipment at the Bella Bella hospital.
“I thought in the back of my mind, we might need to proceed to a caesarian section, and for that I would need an anesthesiologist,” Wilson said.
He knew just where to find one.
Wilson’s life partner is an anesthesiologist doing his locum in the Comox Valley.
“So I dragged him along with me, and we came to Bella Bella on the Cormorant helicopter together,” Wilson said with a chuckle.
It was a smart move. The team at ƛ̓uxválásu̓ilas Heiltsuk Hospital (pronounced kwil-valas-iwaylas) had to perform a C-section.
Wilson praised the hospital staff.
“People worked long, long hours. People came in when they weren’t on duty. Everybody that needed to make this happen just stepped up and made it happen.”
Wilson said the hospital doesn’t have an operating room, so the team used the trauma bay.
They pieced together equipment so Wilson could perform the C-section.
“It certainly was not the standard set that I’m normally used to having, but in the end, it ultimately went quite smoothly, and we had a healthy baby at 1:35 [a.m.] in the morning,” he said.
Johnson and her baby are doing well, according to Wilson.
‘A healing event for the community’
Max Johnson, Nicole’s uncle, said having the baby at home in Bella Bella has uplifted the family.
He emphasized how special it was to have a Heiltsuk doctor deliver the baby.
“It just added to the excitement for everybody, having one of our own Heiltsuk doctors do the delivery.”
Johnson estimated it’s the first time in about 13 years that a Heiltsuk baby was born in the local hospital.
Wilson said thinking about the importance of a Heiltsuk baby being born in the nation gets him emotional.
“As First Nations people, we are so incredibly connected to our lands and territories that when we don’t get to be born in our lands and territories, that’s a loss. And it has to be navigated with every birth.”
He said the story highlights the importance of having a robust public health-care system.
“We really need to bolster supports for our rural providers in particular,” he said.
He added more Indigenous people should be encouraged to go into health-care professions.
Wilson said the hospital used to routinely do deliveries but stopped around the year 2000, in part because the training process for the family physicians who run the hospital has changed.
Vancouver Coastal Health did not respond to a request for comment by publication deadline.
Wilson said there have been lots of smiles and happiness in the hours since Anthony’s birth.
“It’s just so wonderful to be a part of this. I think it’s been a healing event for the community and for the nation.”
