Hon. Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia: Honourable senators, I rise today to recognize the heroism of the first responders and health professionals of Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, whose quick thinking and collaboration saved lives following an explosion at the Come By Chance Refinery on September 2.

Just after 4 p.m., an explosion rocked the refinery, injuring eight people — some critically. As reports trickled out, paramedics from Fewer’s Ambulance Service were already en route to the scene, bringing the victims to the Dr. G. B. Cross Memorial Hospital in Clarenville.

On-site at the hospital, the senior site manager, Dion Park, called a rare Code Orange, meaning a mass casualty event. According to Dr. Etienne van der Linde — the site lead for the hospital’s emergency division — once the call went out, nearly every health care worker in town flooded into the hospital to do their part.

But as more casualties began arriving, it became clear that the Clarenville hospital, with its eight-bed ICU, did not have the capacity to treat all the victims on its own. Most of the patients would need to be sent to the Health Sciences Centre, or HSC, in St. John’s, which is a 2-hour journey by ambulance or about 30 minutes by helicopter.

Dr. van der Linde and his team collaborated with the HSC to seamlessly transport these patients to St. John’s.

By 8 p.m., staff in Clarenville had stabilized three patients to the point where they could fly, but there was a problem: The hospital only has a small helipad — not big enough to land the kind of aircraft needed to transport the patients, along with the medical staff and equipment that needed to accompany them.

Thinking quickly, the police blocked off the road around the hospital and cordoned off the Sobeys parking lot next door. Reports indicate that by 8:45 p.m., helicopters were touching down beside the Sobeys, and the first three patients were loaded aboard for transport, flanked by health care workers.

This event demonstrates the superior skill, resourcefulness and tenacity of first responders and health professionals in my province, as well as the support staff, including volunteers, working in rural communities. But it also exposes the vulnerabilities that persist, including a lack of resources, lack of funding and, unfortunately, staffing shortages.

I applaud the actions of Dr. van der Linde and his entire team. People living in rural and remote communities need — and have the right — to access proper and capable emergency care, regardless if their local hospital is next to a Sobeys.

On behalf of our Newfoundland and Labrador colleagues, I wish the victims a quick recovery, and my thoughts are with them and their families.

Thank you, meegwetch.