Getting a proper vehicle to transport people for urgent medical care is an ongoing challenge in fly-in First Nations in northwestern Ontario.

As a result, these communities rely on Ornge’s air ambulance service to get them to the nearest hospitals in Kenora, Sioux Lookout, Winnipeg or Thunder Bay — hundreds of kilometres from home.

In Keewaywin First Nation, for instance, people with a medical emergency can't readily get a vehicle, let alone one equipped with health-care supplies, to go to the nursing station.

“Sometimes that thing [vehicle] falls apart, the one that we use, and sometimes it doesn't wanna start,” said Eddie Meekis, a band councillor for the Oji-Cree First Nation. “Sometimes, we can't fit anybody in our own [personal vehicles].”

Even transporting people within communities in northwestern Ontario is no easy feat — whether it's to get to the nursing station for immediate support or to the airport for added medical travel. 

“We've heard of patients being transferred in the back of pickup trucks in adverse weather conditions, something that you don't think exists in Ontario or Canada,” said Jeffrey Gunner, a member of Moose Cree First Nation and director of the new emergency first response team (EFRT) program at Ornge.

“Something that I think most Ontarians probably take for granted every day is when you call for help, somebody's gonna come. But for many of those communities, that's not reality.”

The EFRT — supported by Ornge and operated by First Nations — has been operating in several communities in recent months, but was officially launched during an event Tuesday at the Ornge hangar in Thunder Bay. 

Essentially, community co-ordinators and their team receive emergency first response training to help care for patients on scene, and then safely transport them in new heavy-duty trucks with medical equipment pods in the back.

All of the equipment is provided by Ornge, which also helps with record-keeping and data management. 

Members of three of eight participating communities — Keewaywin, Wapekeka, and Deer Lake First Nations — saw the trucks for the first time in person on Tuesday.

The pods are stocked with medical supplies, such as oxygen, and have room to safely secure a stretcher inside, said Wade Durham, Ornge’s chief operating officer.

The vehicles are being delivered by seasonal ice road, which means it’s a race against the clock to get them to the communities before spring.

“I'm very proud of getting this because it's something that we need,” said Meekis. 

Up until this point, many First Nations in the region have struggled to support patients with what they have. Without proper supplies or training, this can lead to further medical complications, said Gunner.

“I would hear stories about a Ski-Doo accident, a medical van driver pulling up — they throw the person that has a broken leg, whatever, into the back of a van — no attendant,” he said.

“Hopefully, we get away from that and we start having proper first response teams.”

Alisha Makila is a paramedic with the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council’s health department and serves as the advanced emergency first response lead in Deer Lake.

Makila said the community has been using a pilot vehicle to “work out all the kinks” for the EFRT program, “and it's made a huge difference.”

“Even in the most critical times, transporting people from the nursing station to the airport without having to have Ornge come to the station — it saves so much time in those very critical moments.”

In Wapekeka First Nation, married couple Zaccheriah Brown and Robyn Anderson have been managing the community’s own emergency response team for years.

Brown now serves as community co-ordinator for the EFRT program, while Anderson works as a first responder.

“I was a medical driver a few years ago and I went on a call,” Brown recalled. “I was alone, and there's only so much I could do.”

The couple said they’re excited to bring the new vehicle back to their First Nation to better support community members.

“It's just awesome,” Brown said.