Severely injured had to wait in the cold

On Sunday, February 1, two young boys, aged 15 and 16 respectively, were involved in a serious and tragic snowmobile accident in Qeqertarsuaq after they fell off a steep cliff near Lyngmarks Mountain. 

It was the family of one of the two young men who announced on Facebook late in the evening that they had not returned home after a snowmobile trip, after which the Police in Qeqertarsuaq, as well as several locals, immediately launched a search for the snowmobile.

By that time it had already become dark, it was blowing and snowing heavily, which made the search difficult for the search team.

After a couple of hours of searching, the seriously injured and unconscious young boys were found shortly before midnight. One of the young men, who had frostbite, among other things, was immediately transported to the local hospital by the rescue team, who were the first to arrive at the accident site on the roadless cliffside.

Immediately afterwards, a snowmobile with a trailer was requested to be used to pick up the other young man, who was transported to the hospital about half an hour later.

At the hospital, it was found that they were both in critical condition, including with severe head injuries. However, the seriously injured young man and his own father and a friend, both of whom were involved in the search and who were the first to arrive, had to wait up to 30 minutes outside the health center, which was closed at the time, before they were allowed in.

Sermitsiaq has spoken to both parents of the two injured young people, who find the conditions at the health center worrying and unacceptable.

The two young people were evacuated to Nuuk. The other was subsequently also evacuated to Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

Waited up to 30 minutes

The health service has decided that hospitals in towns and villages will close after 10 p.m. 16:00, if there are less than 1600 inhabitants, and this applies to the health center in Qeqertarsuaq, which has just over 800 inhabitants.

This decision sparked major protests in the fall among the citizens of Qeqertarsuaq, who were concerned about the conditions.

It was Hanseeraq Olsen, the father of the 15-year-old young man, who first found the accident site and who navigated the rest of the search team to the site. It was also he and his son's friend who transported the injured person to the health center by snowmobile, and who discovered to their horror that the health center was closed.

- The boys were unconscious when I found them. I was not aware of the injuries they had sustained as a result of the accident. Shortly afterwards, the others from the search team arrived, after which I and my son's friend got him off my snowmobile and drove him to the health centre. This happened while others and the police were helping the other young man, he says.

- I knocked on the door in vain and rang the doorbell. At the same time, people came out of the apartments and I asked them to call the health service immediately.

- Shortly afterwards, the police in Qeqertarsuaq called me, after which I explained that the health centre was closed. The police said that they would call the doctor in Qeqertarsuaq directly. But I was also told that they had been asked to call the hospital in Aasiaat, who would then call the person on duty in Qeqertarsuaq, says Hanseeraq Olsen.

The rest of the rescue team arrived at the health centre with the other young man immediately after. At that time, Hanseeraq Olsen, his seriously injured son and his friend were still outside the health centre waiting for the staff. The health staff arrived immediately afterwards and opened the doors.

Worrying and unacceptable

Hanseeraq Olsen believes that it is a tragedy that the two young people, who were in a critical condition, and the rescue team had to wait so long for the staff and the health centre to be opened.

- When the gate was finally opened, they had difficulty finding a stretcher and a headrest. For this reason, we ourselves were forced to carry my son into the health centre so that he could be treated for his injuries.

- The changes in the opening hours at the health centre in Qeqertarsuaq are both very worrying and unacceptable, he says.

Hanseeraq Olsen's son is now being treated at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen.

Powerlessness

Bea Thorleifsen, who is the mother of the 16-year-old and who lives right across from the health centre, is also concerned about the conditions at the health centre. When the first rescue teams arrived at the health centre, she immediately called the hospital in Aasiaat. But according to her she got a Danish speaker on the phone and whom she could not fully understand, which is why she asked to speak to someone who spoke Greenlandic.

- I explained to him the seriousness of the situation. But when about 15 minutes had passed and the staff had not yet arrived, we had to bring our own blankets, which we used to wrap the first injured person who had frostbite.

- I then went to a nurse who lives nearby and knocked on the door, and it turned out that she was getting ready to go out.

- It took up to 30 minutes before the doors were opened. I felt helpless and thought we would lose the seriously injured right outside the health center, she says.

However, Bea Thorleifsen and Hanseeraq Olsen are grateful that their sons received the good treatment they needed after they were brought in.

On-call available

Bodil Jensen, who is a communications consultant in the Greenlandic Health Service, states that citizens in Qeqertarsuaq can get in touch with the health service around the clock.

- In Qeqertarsuaq, the telephone has been redirected to Aasiaat Hospital for many years between 4:00 PM and 8:00 AM, and on weekends. If an emergency occurs, the hospital in Aasiaat will call the on-call officer in Qeqertarsuaq, who will receive the patient.

- If it is a serious acute condition, the patient will be evacuated to either Aasiaat or Queen Ingrids Hospital, depending on the need for treatment in the given case, she states.

Bodil Jensen states that there are always staff on duty who can be called and can quickly appear at the health centre in Qeqertarsuaq as soon as they are called.

- In relation to the snowmobile accident in Qeqertarsuaq on the night between Sunday 1 February and Monday 2 February, the health service in Aasiaat was alerted around midnight, with information that an injured person had been brought to the health centre in Qeqertarsuaq.

- Aasiaat Hospital called the health staff in Qeqertarsuaq, the first of whom arrived at the health centre at around 00:10, according to our information, where the health centre was opened. Additional staff were contacted at 00:14, and then immediately went to the health centre, she states.

Bodil Jensen explains that the two injured people were stabilized and treated at the health center in Qeqertarsuaq, and were evacuated to the national hospital in Nuuk during Monday.