Trout Lake man bypasses medevac for injured wife

A family in Trout Lake, N.W.T., is waiting to find out if they're getting a bill for a medevac flight after an accident earlier this week.

Gilbert Lamalice called for a plane himself because he says he didn't want to wait hours for a medevac to arrive.

Gilbert and his wife Valerie Lamalice were working together, cutting frozen meat, when a Skil saw ripped into Valerie's arm.

Lamalice rushed his wife to the health centre in Trout Lake.

But before authorizing a medevac, the staff there needed to wait for a doctor's opinion.

"They have to get approval from the hospital and I wasn't going to wait for all that decision making when my wife was seriously hurt," he said.

Lamalice has waited for hours at the health centre before. He used first aid to help the elder injured in last week's boating collision outside of Trout Lake.

The woman died about 90 minutes before the plane arrived.

The health department has a medevac contract with Air Tindi, but this time Lamalice called Simpson Air directly to dispatch a plane. 

"Now, when it comes to my family, I'll call direct and then they can deal with it," he said. "And if they don't want to cover it, I'll cover it myself."

Valerie Lamalice was treated in Fort Simpson and then Yellowknife.

Gilbert Lamalice says he hasn't heard from the airline about the bill, but he wants to see better medevac services to save other families the same stress.