HEALTH COACH - How an oil sands facility became an improvised hospital during the forest fires

HEALTH COACH -

With a forest fire heading for Fort McMurray and an evacuation order in place, Mavis Ure was not able to leave. She needed more than a few minutes to get together.

Not to catch memories or photo albums, but to feel its ends. After giving birth - to twins, no less - her legs were not working as well as she would have liked at that precise moment.

Near a year later, Mavis is still in disbelief over what has happened.

"You should never imagine in a million years that something like this will happen during the birth of your child."
- Mavis Ure

"It was a crazy, crazy and crazy day that you would never in a million years imagine that something like this would happen during the birth of your child, she.

Her husband, Curtis, remembers how the day began on May 3, 2016. The air was clear and the sun shone, a pleasant change after a few days of smoke in the community from # 39 forest fires in the area.

The twin boys were born just before noon. Garrett and Waylon were both healthy, each weighing seven pounds, 15 ounces.

Curtis began sharing the good news with friends but found his answers strange. "I managed to retrieve these texts by saying:" Well, what is the agreement with this fire? " At about 2 am, staff at the Northern Lights Regional Health Center began talking about moving patients out of the hospital as wildfires roared closer to town. "At first, I was like," There is no way to evacuate the hospital - that is the last thing they will evacuate " , Said Mavis. Only a few hours after a Caesarean section, Mavis was invited to prepare. The nurses said, "We think we may have to leave. We must prepare you and walk. Can you move? & # 39; "At that time, I may have had 50% feeling back in my legs," said Mavis. <h2> Embarkation companions </h2> Patients were moved on city buses, and the plan was to transport them to a tar sands camp about 20 minutes drive north of Fort McMurray. Within minutes of the trip, it became clear that the camp was full and that the bus had to drive much further, to the Suncor Firebag facility about 120 kilometers to the northwest. The highway was congested and traffic stopped several times while thousands of others took refuge in the tar sands north of the city after the release of the " Evacuation order for Fort McMurray. "The traffic was horrible - you could not go one way or the other," Curtis said. "There were people on the side of the road." The twin boys were inside a plastic cradle on Curtis' lap for most of the trip. Mavis, still in her hospital dress, looked after and changed the layers of babies. These were not the only newborns on the bus. "I remember thinking, once I get to Firebag, I can lie down. I can lie down and fall asleep and we will treat that tomorrow," Mavis said. In the midst of the chaos of evacuation, they were not sure where their other child, Savanna, was with Mavis' father. After eight or nine hours on the road, the bus fired at the site of the Firebag tar sands after midnight. The airfield staff had transformed a maintenance shop near the runway into an improvised hospital. "This is the largest building in our small airport and it was the largest open space we had," said Myles Tuttle, the Firebag Airfield Supervisor. The staff used spray paint on the floor to organize the space and separate the patients according to their condition. <iframe class="story-embed-item" type="text/html" width="100%" height="100%" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yRZe8bEUCOI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="">

24-hour adventure

"There were people out there on stretchers," Mavis said. "They gave me IV fluids, took my blood pressure ... things that have not happened since I left the hospital".

Mavis and the boys were on the next flight out of Firebag, while Curtis was running late to wait for Savannah's father and Mavis to arrive.

The 24 - hour adventure ended when Mavis landed in Edmonton and was taken to the Gray Nuns Community Hospital around 8 am. Curtis landed in Edmonton soon after.

Twins will celebrate their first birthday on May 3 (Kyle Bakx / CBC) <p class=

Mavis Ure and her twins "width =" 100% "/

Mavis considers his family as a chance. She said the situation would have been much worse if not for the companies and the medical staff involved. His biggest apprehension about all the experience was taking the babies outside the hospital with smoke in the air and ashes falling from the sky. The staff gave all the masks of the patients to cover their mouth. They gave him two cubs for his newborns.

"That was the only thing that concerned me. What is the lasting impact of having hours and breathing these things while we are leaving the hospital?" Said Mavis.

The Ure family is back in Fort McMurray and they do not plan to leave the community soon. Both parents work for Suncor as managers in the oil sands.

They kept magazines and newspaper clippings from the forest fires to show the boys when they are older. Mavis still considers all surrealist experience.

"Every time I drive to the hospital - mostly because there are still burnt sticks on this hill - I think about it. Every time," she said.

The couple is now talking about celebrating the birthday of a twin.

"Do you have a birthday party?" Suggested Mavis.

"Probably will not have a bonfire," Curtis said.

Kyle Bakx

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24-hour adventure

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