Researchers address issue of remote emergency care

Calling 911 in Sachigo Lake First Nation often gets a busy signal, no sirens and no paramedics, said the leader of a project to bring the skills and resilience to manage health emergencies locally to the Northern Ontario community.

In an emergency, survival in Sachigo Lake depends on laypeoples’ skills and resilience, said Aaron Orkin, a Northern Ontario School of Medicine researcher who spearheaded the project with Dr. David VanderBurgh.

“Members of the Sachigo Lake First Nation are gaining skills that are usually only made available only to paramedic professionals,” said Orkin.

Orkin and VanderBurgh teamed up with Sachigo Lake leadership to address this issue.

Their journal article, entitled “Where There Is No Paramedic: The Sachigo Lake Wilderness Emergency Response Education Initiative,” was published recently in the international open-access medical journal PLOS Medicine.

The paper highlights the unique circumstances of emergency first response in isolated Aboriginal communities, showcases the Sachigo Lake program’s findings and advances a unique approach to addressing emergency situations.

“I believe that this local training is part of the answer we have been looking for,” said Jackson Beardy, Sachigo Lake Health Director. “How many medical professionals are going to come and teach us? It would be great to see this program across all of our First Nations.”

Remote First Nations communities continue to face a variety of health crises, from drug abuse and mental health emergencies to plane crashes and elevated rates of diabetes.

The research group, including students from the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, will present their findings at NOSM’s upcoming joint world conference, Rendez-Vous 2012.

“Our research team is grateful for this opportunity to discuss this collaboration,” VanderBurgh said.

“Millions of people worldwide live in settings without paramedics or pre-hospital health care, and this model may be applicable elsewhere.”

For more information and to review the article in PLOS Medicine, visit www.plosmedicine.org.