She was run over by a snowmobile but didn't qualify for medevac. Getting help was a 'horror story,' says mom

Wilma Jenkins comforting her crying daughter, Kaysha, who had been in a snowmobile accident that left her pelvis broken. Kaysha didn't receive medevac, despite her mother's pleas to doctors and nurses. (Submitted by Wilma Jenkins)

Wilma Jenkins's daughter, Kaysha, was run over by a snowmobile in Nain, N.L., an incident that left her with a broken pelvis and internal bleeding. But when Wilma brought her daughter to the community clinic, she was told Kaysha didn't qualify for medevac.

For days, Kaysha was screaming out in excruciating pain. Wilma and her husband, Conrad, pleaded with nurses and doctors in the clinic to fly her daughter to a hospital, but she says their pleas fell on deaf ears and her daughter's injuries were completely overlooked.

"The screams will forever haunt me," said Wilma, who said Kaysha is still on the road to recovery in St. John's, weeks after the snowmobile accident.

"She was screaming in pain and she was bawling."

Night at community clinic

Wilma says Kaysha, 17, went snowmobile riding with her friends the night of Jan. 22. Kaysha was sitting on a sled, called a qamutik, that's pulled behind the snowmobile.

While riding on the qamutik, Kaysha's hat started falling off, and when she lifted her hands to pull it back on, the snowmobile hit a bump and she fell off, said Wilma.

Moments later, another snowmobile, which Wilma said was being driven by a 12-year-old, ran over her daughter.

Kaysha's snow pants were ripped to shreds, said Wilma, and she was immediately in debilitating pain.

"Panic mode set in for me and my husband," said Wilma about the moment Kaysha's friends brought her home.

"We're both first-aid responders and all that went out the window, seeing that it was our own."

Wilma says Kaysha was forced to put weight on her legs while waiting for care in the Nain community clinic. Kaysha was able to put weight on her left leg, but she was still in excruciating pain, says Wilma. (Submitted by Wilma Jenkins)

Story continues

Then began what Wilma describes as a "horror story."

She and her husband brought Kaysha to the community clinic in Nain, and once they arrived, they brought her to the clinic's emergency room. Despite her daughter's cries of pain, Wilma said, a trauma nurse in the emergency room told her Kaysha was "stable."

"So who do you listen to? Do you listen to your gut feeling, or do you listen to the nurse?" said Wilma.

At the time, Wilma says they didn't know whether Kaysha was internally bleeding or had broken any bones, although she knew Kaysha had blood in her urine. Since Nain is a community clinic, she says, Kaysha would need to be flown an hour and 20 minutes to the hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to receive an X-ray.

Wilma says she and Conrad asked a nurse in Nain if Kaysha could receive medevac but were told they'd have to wait to hear from the doctor in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

In Nain, Wilma says, her daughter had to undergo assessments to see how she was reacting to pain and whether she was able to use her legs. She says nurses forced Kaysha to put weight on her legs, and while Kaysha was able to put some weight on her left leg, she was left in pain.

The nurses eventually told Wilma that Kaysha was "stable enough," and that they would have to wait until the morning. Kaysha spent the night in the community clinic's emergency room.

"The amount of bruising, I can't get that out of my head," said Wilma. "It was all black. Black. I can't get over that."

CBC News has requested an interview with N.L. Health Services, but has not received a response.

'She was being tortured'

After a night in the emergency room, Wilma says, nurses told her she should take her daughter home.

Wilma says it felt as though they were being forced out of the clinic. Kaysha was in so much pain that they weren't able to get her onto a snowmobile to bring her home safely.

Eventually her daughter was brought back to the clinic and put on a stretcher, crying and screaming in pain.

"I had lost it," said Wilma. "And the tears started coming down my face. She was being tortured."

She spent another night in the clinic, sleeping in a recliner, and the next day, Wilma was told her daughter would be put on a scheduled flight to the hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The doctor told her she could get medevac instead but they'd have to wait a few days.

Kaysha is now in recovery at the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre. (Submitted by Wilma Jenkins)

The quickest way to get help was by the scheduled hospital flight. Kaysha was still screaming in pain when they landed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, said Wilma, pain so bad Kaysha couldn't even bear to be transferred onto an X-ray table at the hospital.

Wilma said the X-ray technician told her Kaysha would have to be brought to the emergency room. That's when they discovered her pelvis was broken, and she was soon flown out to St. John's.

The two are now at the Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre, and Kaysha is on the road to recovery.

"Everything's looking up, everything's positive," said Wilma. "She's still in recovery. She can't put no weight on her legs."

Wilma says she's grateful her daughter is safe but it was an unnecessarily turbulent road to get to this point.

"It felt as if we weren't being heard," she said. "I don't think that the nurse had understood the severity of the situation. Like, seeing my daughter [in pain], it ripped my heart out, basically."

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