Your ride home from the hospital was a *ferry* in slippers?
Good morning from the Fundy shore — the tide's turning, and so is New Brunswick. Let's get into it.
I'll tell you what, you hear a lot of stories around here, right? But this one, about the fellah from Grand Manan who gets air-ambulanced to the mainland for medical care and then, well, he's just *left* to figure out how to get home? In his slippers? That just sticks with you. Seriously, the family says he was discharged, handed some papers, and told to find his own way back to the ferry terminal in Black's Harbour. No ride, no nothing, just… *bon voyage*.
### What Happened on the Mainland
* A Grand Manan man was air-ambulanced to a mainland hospital for medical care. * Upon discharge, his family says he was given no assistance or transportation back to the ferry terminal. * He ended up alone, cold, and in his slippers, trying to get to the ferry to Grand Manan. * It's a multi-hour ordeal to get from Saint John back to Grand Manan, involving a drive and a ferry ride.
Now, Grand Manan isn't just down the road, is it? It’s a whole process. You’ve got to drive out of Saint John, head west past the Reversing Falls and then keep going down Route 1, probably an hour or so, to Black's Harbour. Then you've got the ferry schedule, which, I'll tell you, isn't always convenient. Imagine being dropped off after treatment, probably feeling a bit rough, looking at the grey waters of the Bay of Fundy, and realizing you've got to navigate all that in your house shoes. It just doesn’t sit right. For folks living on the islands, the ferry isn't a leisure cruise; it's the only lifeline.
This hits different for anyone living in the Fundy Isles or even just across the harbour in places like Lorneville or even further out. Our healthcare system, for all its good, sometimes forgets the geography of this place. If you live somewhere like Grand Manan, getting to Saint John for medical care is already a big enough deal. To then be stranded, trying to flag down a ride to the ferry, in your slippers – that's a level of "only in New Brunswick" that’s just a bit too much. It's a stark reminder that rural and island communities need more than just an air ambulance *to* the city; they need a proper plan for getting *home*, too.
Our buddies on the morning show are always jawing about stuff like this – you should catch 'em live over at mornings.live.