Patient safety comes first

Staff safely evacuate 29 Slave Lake Healthcare Centre patients

When Betty Wudarck finally left her hospital, the building was pitch black and filling with smoke.

She had little idea of what was happening to her town, or her own home. All she could think of was her patients.

“You have one objective, and that’s the safety of your patients,” says Wudarck, the site manager for Slave Lake Healthcare Centre, who was on the frontlines of Sunday’s evacuation.

“I couldn’t really think of what was happening outside, I just knew we had to look after our patients and make sure they were safe. That’s what our team was focused on, and that’s what we did.”

Wudarck was the last person out of the hospital Sunday evening. She remembers turning off the generator with the help of a maintenance worker, then walking down the corridors by flashlight and stepping outside.

She was one of a small group of people on the ground in Slave Lake, all part of a larger team that ensured the evacuation of 29 patients went smoothly, despite the drama unfolding around them.

Evacuating a hospital is no easy task. It is made more difficult when flames are lapping at the building, all roads in and out of town are blocked, the airport is closed because of heavy smoke, power is out and phone lines are down.

Wudarck was well aware of the threat the fire posed to her hospital, but it was still a shock when staff members rushed in to tell her that the trees outside were bursting into flames.

“They came in saying ‘the trees are on fire’. Pat (Hischebett, nursing services supervisor) and her nurses immediately started moving the patients to the front of the hospital. They just knew it needed to be done.”

Evacuation plans had been made the night before, in conjunction with AHS leaders in Fort McMurray, Slave Lake and Edmonton. Putting the plans in place was challenging, however—the sudden change in wind direction and the rapidly approaching fire meant time was critical.

"It was hard, because you’re going into the unknown. You don’t want to take the patients out there, but you also know that you’ve got to go,” says Wudarck.

“We had a plan and we stuck to it as best we could. And we had a team in place that was just amazing. We had been talking and planning for two days, and we were comfortable that all the resources were in place.

“But we had to adapt very quickly. It took a lot of great work by some truly incredible people, but we did it. I can't say enough of my team members. They knew that their town was burning, but everyone's priority was the patients.”

Cindy Harmata had arrived at the Slave Lake Healthcare Centre Sunday afternoon, and began to focus on the 19 long-term care patients. The director of Senior’s Heath at the centre, Harmata was instantly amazed at how her staff came together.

“There was this wonderful group of staff who were truly amazing. Where were their families? Where were the people they cared about? They didn’t know. But here they were, helping all these patients.

“We also got incredible support from EMS and RCMP. I can’t tell you what heroes and heroines they were. We had so many hands helping. They were very strong, very calm. They were tremendous.”

The team at Slave Lake Healthcare Centre worked to safely transfer patients to waiting ambulances and two Handi-Buses, one brought in from Peace River by Ray Johnson the night before. Some patients were able to walk, while others had to be moved in wheelchairs and stretchers.

EMS crews from Slave Lake and other towns then took the patients to the Nova Inn, where a field hospital was set up. All roads were closed, and there was nowhere else to go.

Wudarck joined them there after navigating her way across a town in flames. Her house was just one block away, and her husband was outside sprinkling it with a hose, but Wudarck’s priority was her patients.

Her staff was already at the hotel. They had all seen the horror unfolding outside.

“They said to me ‘we have to go with them’. They didn’t even question it, they were going with their patients and that was it,” says Wudarck.

“The team just kept going and going and going, like Energizer bunnies.”

Harmata says staff members put the fires outside to the back of their minds.

“There was no need to look at what was happening to the town, it’s these confused residents in front of you that needed our attention. The staff was frightened, but they were professional.

“We just had to focus on keeping the patients calm and safe. We knew we didn’t need to look at the big picture—the big picture was being taken care of by the command centre. We were in good hands, so we could just do our jobs.”

The 29 patients were eventually taken to hospitals in Athabasca, Westlock and Boyle, when a highway to the south of the town briefly opened and an RCMP escort could lead the ambulances and the Handi-Bus away from the fire. Staff members in those towns were already waiting for them.

It was only then that most of the staff in Slave Lake left to join their families and their thoughts turned to getting of town to safety.

“That was some relief – ‘OK, they are on their way now’. We were responsible for our patients, but once they were on the road then we could let go, a little bit,” says Wudarck.

“Our staff had to go to their families, but they still wanted to help. I released them, but some didn’t go. They wanted to stay.”

Three physicians - Dr. Paul Caffaro, Dr. Ashraff Khan and Dr. Justin Marillier, along with two medical students, stayed behind to offer their services at the Slave Lake Emergency Operations Centre, set up at Northern Lakes College.

Once again, they put their work before themselves. Some had lost their homes.

“Every doctor at the Nova, setting up the trauma centre, had lost their home. Nurses had lost their homes. But we were all saying the same thing – it’s just stuff,” says Wudarck.

“Our objective was to keep the patients safe. We had no injuries, no adverse effects. I’m very proud of that. I really want people to know what our team did – it was incredible.”

It is unlikely any of the staff will forget the events of Sunday night. Most are now with friends or families, away from their town.

“When I think of it now, I see the faces. The faces of the staff doing their jobs, and of each one of those residents, each one looking at us pleading for reassurance,” says Harmata.

“And, of course, the flames. It was just absolutely surreal to step outside and see the flames, some 20 feet high. I will never forget that.”