LLOYDMINSTER - A woman expressed her concerns on Tik Tok recently after her father from Lloydminster, Sask., was not able to receive treatment at the Lloydminster hospital when his truck was involved in a two-vehicle collision.
Roger Ogram, 71, ended up dying in an ambulance on the way to another hospital that was farther away.
His daughter Chelsey Lujan said her father was originally going to be taken to Lloydminster Hospital after the collision on Nov. 16 near Alcurve, Alta., near the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan.
But the family was advised the CT scan could not be used at the Lloydminster Hospital that day because it was not staffed on the weekends. So, her father's ambulance was re-directed to Battlefords Union Hospital for a CT scan there, which was one hour and 42 minutes away, instead of going to the Lloydminster Hospital, which was about 25 minutes away.
"It's a rural area," said Lujan. "So, it took about 30 to 35 minutes for ambulances to arrive, which for there is actually pretty good ... My brother did get to the scene before the ambulances arrived and was there with my uncle and my dad. My dad was loaded up and sent out before my brother left ... When my brother ... [and] mother got to [Lloydminster Hospital] my dad wasn't there."
Lujan said her uncle who was also in the accident was stabilized at Lloydminster Hospital and later airlifted to a hospital in Saskatoon, and survived the collision.
She said the ambulance with her father inside would have had to drive past the Lloydminster Hospital to travel to the Battlefords Union Hospital.
The family hoped if he went to Lloydminster Hospital first, he could receive emergent care before being transported to another hospital farther away.
Most of all they wonder why there were no CT scan operators at Lloydminster hospital when their father needed it.
"My husband [wondered]: Why did the ambulance not stop [in Lloydminster]? Why was the CT not running [because there was no operator]?," Lujan said.
She describes her father as someone who was kind and giving, and loved life.
"He loved the Lord; he loved his family; he loved his church, and he loved his community," she said. "He was someone who was so proud to be from Saskatchewan, he loved to brag about it. He loved to share what he loved with other people. He would have people come to the farm. He had horses that he trained to pull a sleigh."
Lujan said her father would give hot chocolate to guests as they enjoyed sleigh rides at his farm.
Lujan noted the family wanted to have more time to spend with their father and have some closure before he passed away in the ambulance.
"He [my father] was speaking when he [my brother] left, which is why my brother felt pretty confident when leaving that he would be ok," she said. "None of us got to see him in the hospital because he passed before he [her brother] was even able to make it there."
The Saskatchewan Health Authority said in a statement they couldn't comment on individual patient cases due to privacy reasons, but said "the SHA is actively working to maintain diagnostic CT services 24 hours a day in Lloydminster."
