Labrador MHA says she doesn't have 'much faith' in NLHS after man died during long delays for medical travel

The MHA representing northern Labrador says she's lost faith in Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care system because of what she calls a lack of care for the people in her district.

"I don't really have much faith in them, because for them it's all about the perception of doing something, the perception of working on something, the perception of putting in solutions, when really all they're doing is just trying to control the messaging and the appearance," Lela Evans told CBC News on Tuesday, referring to meetings she's had with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services.

"It's a scary time for people in northern Labrador. If somebody becomes sick, everybody almost panics, because we know how hard it is to get proper treatment."

Evans pointed to a recent incident that she says documents a failure of the health-care system.

She said Tomas Pamak, an elder in Nain with Stage 4 cancer, recently had to wait five days for a medical evacuation to receive his diagnosis. 

She claims he was bumped from flights for four days, and was told by the health authority there were higher priority cases.

Pamak later died, after seven days of waiting to return home to his family, Evans said.

The family was told weather also played a factor in not being able to fly, Evans said, but those living Nain disagree.

Evans believes she and residents were lied to.

"If somebody is not medevaced until the fifth day ... our people are dying. Our people are being harmed by the failure to be able to access adequate and timely health care," Evans said.

"When we look at a medevac to get someone out, and they're given those reasons, I can't trust them. I can't."

Evans, a longtime advocate for adequate health care in the region, said she believes northern Labrador is lower in the pecking order than other regions in the province.

"The system is so burdened now that they're picking and choosing who gets the resources. Northern Labrador is the last on the list, cause we're out of sight, out of mind," she said.

In an emailed statement, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services told CBC News it's committed to the highest level of care for all residents in the province.

The statement specifically noted work to advance an integrated road and air ambulance service in Newfoundland and Labrador, saying it "provides a historic opportunity to transform the system and enhance services for people throughout the province, including those located in northern Labrador."

Evans said the look to the future is part of the problem — and that resources to help people of northern Labrador are needed now.

"We have a lot of our elders who are actually passing away from illness that if they'd been diagnosed earlier, they could have had treatment," she said. "They could have extended their lives. So that's a failure."

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