Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 27/99) - When Alfred Moses got into a car accident on his way to the Midway Lake Music Festival, he sparked an examination of the way the Inuvik region handles emergencies.

Among the first on the scene of the July 31 accident was British Colombia resident Maureen Loiselle -- a self-described "first responder" who came to Moses' assistance and who later went on to publicly criticize both the medical authorities and the RCMP for not responding quickly enough to the crash.

But speaking last week, representatives of both the Inuvik Regional Hospital and the Fort McPherson RCMP tried to place the accident in context and explained that not much could have turned out differently.

"She raised some valid points, but they have to be taken in the context of where we live," said Sgt. Bill Eubank. "Mrs. Loiselle lives in an area of the country where there are hundreds of helicopters and airplanes. By virtue of where we live, they are more limited here.

"But as a result, there are more people trained in standard first aid here relative to the population than anywhere else in the country."

Contrary to earlier statements released by the hospital, Inuvik hospital CEO Ray Scott said the response team is open to suggestions from the public.

"We appreciate input from any sources if there's something we can do differently," he said, "but in this case there were extenuating circumstances."

Scott said that on the Saturday in question, the hospital's response took slightly longer than normal because its medevac plane -- chartered from North-Wright Airways Ltd. -- was already on assignment. With no helicopter pilots available and the back-up plane service located in Norman Wells, Scott said the hospital opted to send a Fort McPherson nurse out to Midway by van. Moses was then flown to Inuvik to be stabilized before making the trip down to Edmonton.

"There's nothing we can really change," said Scott. "Most of it was out of our control. We don't have our own helicopter or plane and we don't have pilots sitting in the hospital."

Eubank described the accident response as "immediate" and "successful."

"The ferries held up the traffic for us and the nurse did a great job and so did Loiselle," he said, adding, "in fact I have a proposal here to present her with a St. John Ambulance award, which I will recommend."

For his part, Moses, 22, said he didn't want to comment on the accident. After spending a week in Inuvik hospital, he's now recovering at home.

"I'm almost 100 per cent," he said.