How Manitoba worked to save those injured in Carberry bus crash that killed 17

In the minutes following the worst bus crash in Manitoba history, first responders and medical staff launched a massive effort to save the injured.

On June 15 last year, a bus that departed Dauphin, Man., heading to a casino on a day trip, collided with a semi-trailer near Carberry. 

There were 25 people on board the bus — most seniors from the Dauphin area. 

Though at first, how many people were involved wasn't known to medical staff at hospitals. 

"We didn't know numbers, we didn't have an idea of what was coming, how many, what condition they were going to be in," said Dr. Adrian Fung, chief medical officer for Prairie Mountain Health, the southwestern Manitoba health region that includes the Carberry area.

CBC spoke with Fung and others about their roles in responding to the crash that day and what they're reflecting on one year later. 

Initially, there were 10 survivors from the crash, which happened at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Manitoba's Highway 5.

Many were rushed to the Brandon Regional Health Centre, about 40 kilometres away.

Fung started that Thursday morning working in the operating room there. As details about what happened started to emerge, the hospital had roughly 30 minutes to come up with a plan, he said.

Doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists helped form five trauma teams to treat the injured, he said. Additional staff was at the ready for X-rays, lab work or supply runs. 

Patients started arriving. Their identities were still unknown. 

"It was a lot of quickly trying to stabilize people and then get ready for the next person to come in, in case there was another one," said Fung. 

Six patients arrived at Brandon's hospital. Five of them needed to be transferred to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg — Manitoba's trauma centre.

Two other patients went directly from the crash site to Brandon's airport to be flown to Winnipeg. 

STARS response

Grant Therrien was at Winnipeg's base for the STARS (Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society) air ambulance service when the initial call about a highway crash came in.

STARS teams would play a key role in getting survivors where they needed to be.  

A helicopter with a crew of five went to the crash site, recalled Therrien, a critical care paramedic and the Manitoba provincial director of operations for STARS.

Then came word they needed more help, he said. 

By chance, extra staff were on site for training. 

"I told them, 'Get your flight suits on, I think we're going to have to go west and help out. Here's what we know,'" said Therrien. 

STARS medical staff boarded two medical planes headed for Brandon's airport, getting ready to transfer patients the roughly 200 kilometres east to Winnipeg, he said.

Once in Brandon, STARS medical staff joined the trauma teams in the hospital to help get patients ready to be moved. 

"There were so many patients that required attention that, you know, we just helped wherever we could," said Therrien. 

Saskatchewan also sent crews to help airlift people.

'Something I never want to see again'

Meanwhile in Winnipeg, Health Sciences Centre was working fast to free up space by moving approximately 28 patients to other facilities, said chief operating officer Dr. Shawn Young.

"This was definitely the biggest mass casualty event I've been involved with," he said. "We deal with … very critically ill patients every single day, but this volume, this quickly, this sick was something I never want to see again." 

Young estimates hundreds of people were involved in the response at HSC. 

Nine of the survivors were treated there. Many needed intensive care, and some had surgery immediately, he said.  

"These were very elderly, very injured people that required a lot of help," said Young.  

Along with treating patients, staff met with families. 

"One of the most memorable moments that will stick with me for the rest of my life was having the family members come in and looking for their loved ones," said Young.

"Sometimes we were able to reassure them that we have them, and sometimes we couldn't, and they didn't arrive."

Lessons learned

Behind the scenes, Dr. Rob Grierson and Dr. Doug Martin spent hours helping to co-ordinate the movement of patients through Manitoba's Virtual Emergency Care and Transfer Resource Service, or VECTRS.

It had launched only a month earlier, to provide support with patient transfers and connecting patients with specialists in Manitoba.

From Winnipeg, they were able to take in information about the survivors, while at the same time tracking what was happening inside Manitoba hospitals. 

"You have to triage those patients appropriately to decide, OK, who's going to come next, who's going to come next after that," said Grierson, who is also chief medical officer for Shared Health emergency response services.

"That's one of the things that we worked on trying to figure out, because you do have limited resources that can move someone from Brandon to Winnipeg."

Patients had to be moved to HSC quickly, said Martin, who is also the medical director for STARS in Manitoba.  

"That being said, they also have to survive the journey," he said.

Grierson said pieces VECTRS put into place that day will have a legacy in future responses — such as a single point of contact for clear information, or details on patient lists. 

Two of those who survived the initial crash later died in hospital. The crash ultimately left 17 people dead. 

"That was a horrific day for Manitobans," said Martin. "There were many lives lost on that day. There were many lives that were changed forever."  

The co-ordinated response between local and volunteer first responders, medical staff from several communities, and emergency flights from two provinces meant hundreds came together.

"As a lesson learned, it's that … we are all able to get through the worst of things, because we are able to be together in this," said Fung.

A year later, people will come together again.

Those who were on the bus will be honoured in a ceremony in Dauphin on Saturday, when a monument to the victims will be unveiled.