Two more voices on the subject of closing the Owen Sound Billy Bishop airport.

Dr. Jon Caulfeild BSc MD FRCS(C), Division Chief, General Surgery, Grey Bruce Health Services, and Dr. Chief - Owen Sound Department of Emergency Medicine, Grey Bruce Health Services, and Dr. Sunil Mehta, Chief - Owen Sound Department of Emergency Medicine, Grey Bruce Health Services and Local Medical Director – Grey and Bruce EMS,   Southwest Regional Base Hospital Program

"To the Members of Owen Sound City Council, I am writing to express my significant concerns about closing or selling the Owen Sound Billy Bishop Airport. I have received a copy of a Staff Report that apparently will be presented today, suggesting that the airport should close.

I am the Division Chief of General Surgery for Grey Bruce Health Services. I received training intrauma surgery at the University of Toronto during my surgical residency, and served as Chief Surgical Resident at both Sunnybrook and St. Michael’s Trauma Centres. I also hold a commercial pilot licence and have a fair degree of aviation knowledge and experience, having been a pilot for over 30 years. I am part owner of a hangar at the airport as well and own a small fabric covered airplane.

When trauma arrives at our hospitals and patients require emergency life-saving surgery, the general surgeon on call is usually deeply involved. My partners and I have operated emergently on many patients over the years that were victims of trauma, having suffered from car accidents, intentional or accidental penetrating trauma, farm accidents, or other serious injuries. Unfortunately, trauma patients are often complex with multiple injuries requiring tertiary care. In particular, severe head injuries require expedited transfer for neurosurgical intervention. In trauma, we discuss the “Golden Hour”, where minutes count in the prognosis and survival of patients.

Fortunately, Ontario has an excellent system for transferring such patients in a timely manner. The ORNGE helicopters fly day and night saving lives. Unfortunately, during inclement weather, this is sometimes not possible. Thunderstorms, fog, snow, etc. prevent them from landing safely at the hospital helipad. Sometimes in these situations, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft can still land at the airport using instrument approaches and are still able to evacuate patients. This was the case only recently following a serious accident in our area. The option of a 3 hour land transfer was not favourable. The helicopter could not land anywhere else nearby.

You mention that the Wiarton airport is an adequate backup that is maybe 30 minutes further than Owen Sound. This extra time could mean the difference between life and death for our residents in certain cases. I do not know how many times a year this situation occurs. Maybe it’s only once. Maybe it’s five times. Maybe more. I know it happened a couple of weeks ago. I know that if one day one of my loved ones needs an emergency medical evacuation on a bad weather day, I am thankful the airport is so close. How many of these life-saving flights are required to make the money invested in the airport worth while? A few dollars per year per household seems reasonable to me.

I know that the Gift of Life organ donation teams fly into Billy Bishop airport when the need arises as well. I have not even mentioned medical evacuation needs during acute stroke or cardiac events.

A regional airport is an important part of the infrastructure of a community and provides an essential service to its inhabitants. I see it in the same light as a fire department or an EMS service. Communities who do not have this service are at a dangerous disadvantage.

On a more personal note as a hangar owner and pilot, I see the implementation of a landing fee as an obvious intentional route to airport closure. I have heard council members say “you pay a fee to skate at the ice rink, you pay a fee to land at the airport.” I am no business expert, but if every other ice rink is free, people are just going to skate elsewhere and the rink will be empty and close. As someone who has a lease at the airport, paying a landing fee seems a lot like charging an apartment tenant to use the elevator to access their apartment in addition to their rent. I certainly think it is unreasonable to charge a pilot $350 plus tax if they were practicing ten take offs and landings in an hour, especially if that pilot was already supporting the airport through lease and fuel payments.

If the landing fee were a viable option to help the airport, maybe local pilots would be more open to it. The issue is, in fact, that it is obvious that this fee will result in drastically decreasing airport utilization by the general aviation community, and kill the airport, not save it. That is why local pilots, and indeed all members of the aviation community, are against this plan.
I implore the Owen Sound City Council members to do what it takes to maintain a viable airport in Owen Sound. Our community deserves this service, and you will save lives."

Sincerely

Dr. Jon Caulfeild

BSc MD FRCS(C)

Dr Sunil Mehta
Grey Bruce Health Services
Owen Sound Emergency Department

July 18, 2021

Owen Sound City Council

Re: Billy Bishop Regional Airport

Dear Madams and Sirs:

I write this letter to you to express my concerns regarding the possible decision to close the Billy Bishop Regional Airport. I have noted articles in the local news media reporting the expectation that council will be advised to close the airport and instead allow the Wiarton-Keppel facility to be developed into a regional hub. While I have no familiarity with the costs involved, other than those reported in the media, or the proposals that have been evaluated, I do have an expressed interest in the maintenance of the facility from the perspective of a health care worker. I have no financial association with the Billy Bishop Regional Airport – _I do not own a plane, I am not a pilot, and I do not pay/lease/rent anything from them.

As an Emergency physician it is fairly regular that the most appropriate and best care for a patient requires their transfer to a more suitable facility. Often the treatment these patients require is time sensitive and we attempt to transfer by the provincial ORNGE service. Unfortunately, especially in the winter months, this becomes increasingly difficult depending on the weather patterns. Often our only alternative to a 3-hour one direction land transfer is the use of fixed-wing transport via the Billy Bishop airfield.

It should be clarified that for these patients transfer by land not only requires the loss of a local EMS crew to facilitate the transfer, but almost universally requires that the Emergency Department also lose a nurse (and potentially a physician) for the duration of the transport (typically 6-8 hours). I’m not sure how familiar City Council members are with the current nursing shortage, but our department seems to be running short by one nurse on a daily basis as is. Losing another nurse/physician for a land transfer that could have been averted by having ready access to a fixed wing crew is potentially devastating for our ability to continue providing high-quality and timely care in the Emergency Department.
The Owen Sound Emergency Department sees approximately 36000 patients per year. Our acuity levels are higher than those in the surrounding hospital and, as a result, we require flight transfer more often than other Grey Bruce Health Services sites. The Owen Sound site of GBHS also contains our regional pediatric beds, critical care beds, stroke beds, and intensive care beds. The Ontario Trillium Gift of Life network uses the airport a portion of its organ procurement visits. All these hospital-based services have occasional need for the airport and are therefore at risk.

I recognize that, theoretically, we could have our patients shipped 30min north to Wiarton to fly fixed wing. It should be kept in mind that these transfers also require the loss of a nurse and/or physician for the land portion of the transfer and, instead of a total 30 minute period of detainment away from the Emergency Department (or other sending area), we would be looking at a period of more than 60 minutes. Given the potential impact on care when minutes can matter, I believe it behoves us to maintain service closer to home.

Our community deserves access to this facility.

Sincerely,

Dr Sunil Mehta, MD CCFP(EM) FCPC

Chief - Owen Sound Department of Emergency Medicine
Grey Bruce Health Services
Chief Medical Informatics Officer
Grey Bruce Health Services
Local Medical Director – _Grey and Bruce EMS
Southwest Regional Base Hospital Program