The daughter of an Ontario man, who faced a medical emergency and was stranded in Costa Rica due to a shortage of available hospital beds back home, is relieved that he’s now recovering in Canada.

Emma Rice and her father Grant are finally both back in Ontario after the 69-year-old was put on a ventilator earlier this month — an experience that she describes as “pretty scary” for both of them.

She previously told Global News that while her father was on vacation in Costa Rica, he started to develop numbness in his tongue, which quickly spread throughout his face, leading to difficulty swallowing and eventually compromising his ability to breathe effectively.

She said flew out to Costa Rica on April 9th after learning her father was ill. Following her arrival, Grant was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, sometimes known as GBS, which is a rare but serious autoimmune disorder.

“It basically causes nerve paralysis. Quite often it starts in the limbs, but with him, it started in his head,” Emma said.

After spending the next few weeks in a San Jose hospital room, Grant was finally stable enough to return to Ontario on a medical evacuation flight. However, insurance or a flight weren’t the issue, but finding an available hospital bed in Ontario was.

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Martin Firestone, a travel insurance broker in Toronto and president of Travel Secure Inc., explained to Global News that if someone falls ill while on vacation and the doctors in this location advise returning to their home province quickly, there are options for air evacuation. However, the key is that they must have a bed available in a local hospital.

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“The bottom line is it’s very difficult to get beds this day and age. But the air evacuation will not just bring you to the airport and leave you…there has to be a hospital to take you to,” said Firestone.

Will McAleer, the executive director of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada, explained hospitals do not permit air ambulances to arrive unannounced without a prearranged bed.

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• Ontario man stranded in Costa Rica due to lack of hospital beds at home

Insurance companies are saying the situation should be improved, with McAleer adding that hospitals should treat travelling Ontarians the same as if they were to get sick while at home.

Fortunately, following the news of Grant’s situation, multiple hospitals extended offers for assistance. Meanwhile, Emma said her father’s insurance company contacted her regarding an available bed in Ottawa. Shortly thereafter, a medical evacuation flight was on its way.

“When those air ambulance folks walked into the hospital room and gave me a hug, it was probably the most relieving moment of my life,” Emma said.

Her father is now recovering at Ottawa Civic Hospital, facing a long road to recovery ahead. However, having him back home is all that matters.

Unfortunately, Grant’s case isn’t unique in Canada — Canadians travelling can face stressful, lengthy waits to access hospitals back home.

As a reminder, Firestone says to always remember to get sufficient travel insurance.

“Travel insurance is so important…your Ontario government health insurance plan covers you for very little on any potential claim you may have,” said Firestone.

“If you go away and suffer an emergency, whether it be something from a sickness right to triple bypass surgery, that cost in most countries is exorbitant, so you could be looking at a half-a-million-dollar bill,” he said.

“And quite frankly, if you don’t have insurance, you are going to be responsible to pay it.”

— with files from Sean O’Shea. 

1:49
Canadian stranded in Costa Rica not 1st time families see red tape bringing sick loved ones home

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Last September, 32-year-old Arielle Townsend came home to a letter from the federal immigration department stating her Canadian citizenship was at risk of being revoked. 

Townsend, who lives in Ajax, Ont., was “completely blindsided.” 

She’d come to Canada as an infant in 1992. She was not yet a year old when a Mississauga, Ont., citizenship office issued her a citizen card.

“I was shocked and completely in disbelief,” she said. “It’s almost like you go to bed as one person, and then you wake up and you’re like, ‘I’m a completely different person.'”

Townsend has since hired lawyers and responded to the letter from  Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), which told her: “There is information on your file indicating that you may not be entitled to certificate of Canadian citizenship issued to you.”

Townsend and her lawyers have provided the government with all the facts in response, including that they believe the government has made an error and her mother was a citizen when she was born. 

But it’s been five months, and she hasn’t received a reply. 

Townsend can’t leave the country, because if the government decides to cancel her citizenship — as the official letter states is a possibility — she could be left stateless. 

“To keep somebody suspended in this state is just deeply insensitive,” said Audrey Macklin, the chair in human rights law at the University of Toronto.

“It would be unconscionable to actually deprive her of her citizenship and attempt to treat her… as if she just stepped off the airplane yesterday.”

From Jamaica to Canada

According to the statement of facts that Townsend’s lawyers have submitted to the government, her family applied for Canadian citizenship back in January 1991. 

At that time, Townsend’s mother had been living in the country for several years. She soon became pregnant and travelled to Jamaica, where she could benefit from more family support in the lead-up to Townsend’s birth. 

Townsend’s mother’s family in Canada took their citizenship oath that July, around which time a citizenship card was issued to Townsend’s mother.

Townsend was born in Jamaica in October 1991.

When she was only a few months old, in January 1992, Townsend’s mother returned to Canada briefly, without her, to sort out her citizenship papers. 

Per the statement of facts, she went to the citizenship office in Mississauga, reported Townsend’s birth and asked how she could get status for her daughter, so she could fly her to Canada.

The citizenship officer told Townsend’s mother, according to what Townsend’s mother has recounted in a signed affidavit, that a citizenship application wasn’t needed, because her mother was already a citizen. 

Townsend’s mother brought her home to Canada in April 1992. She was issued her official citizenship card that August. 

‘A Twilight Zone episode’ 

Townsend’s lawyer Daniel Kingwell says this is a case where the family asked the right questions and followed the rules.

“She lived her whole life as a Canadian citizen, and then it’s like a Twilight Zone episode,” he said. 

“You wake up one day and the government says you’re not a citizen.”

In the IRCC letter to Townsend, which CBC Toronto has viewed, the government says it believes Townsend was actually born before her mother became a citizen — even though Townsend was born in October 1991 and her mother became a citizen in July 1991.

Kingwell says he’s asking the IRCC to recognize that their concerns about Townsend’s status are due to a mistake the IRCC made, not Townsend or her mother.

“She should either be able to retain her citizenship, or they should give her citizenship on their special compassionate grounds,” he said.

Kingwell says the lack of response so far is “par for the course” — per Immigration Canada’s website, processing for citizenship certificate applications currently takes roughly seven months. 

“Canada is notorious for the extraordinary delays and opacity of its processes,” Macklin said.

Last fall, the auditor general released a report stating that the federal government’s outdated systems are threatening their service delivery, and that the government needs to improve its management of immigration programs to reduce permanent residency backlogs.

“One explanation is that they never have enough resources,” Macklin said. “But the outcome of it, for whatever the reasons are, is kind of a culture of disrespect.”

Macklin says the IRCC owes Townsend a reply and, at the very least, respect.

A spokesperson for the IRCC told CBC Toronto, the IRCC can’t comment on individual cases.

Townsend, meanwhile, says she feels helpless. 

“I don’t know how they expect me to prove something I have no ability to prove.”

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A trucking company that operates in the London area says it requires new drivers to have a minimum of three years of experience and, once hired, to regularly bring more experienced drivers for ride-alongs.   

It’s an important way to make sure new drivers understand road rules and follow safety protocols because for some, regulatory training at truck driving schools doesn’t provide enough experience, said Mike Zelek, vice-president of human resources at Wellington Group of Companies, which has terminals in Ingersoll, Strathroy and Windsor. 

“A lot of driving schools are more interested in having people go through their school to get a license and pay fees and be done with them but not actually training them for a long career on the road,” he said.

“An experienced driver will have more mileage on them. I don’t believe a simulator or in-class training can compare to that. You have to have someone in the truck with you up to a certain mileage threshold.” 

Earlier this month, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) released a report  saying Canada needs more and better training for truck drivers. The report found new drivers — especially those with less than three years of experience — were more likely to be involved in collisions. 

A lack of adequate training is causing issues in the transportation industry, such as inexperienced drivers not being able to deal with the different climates and freight restrictions in different provinces throughout the country, said Wellington’s director of carrier relations Bill Robinson.

“A driver who has driven in Canada for three years has typically dealt with all different elements our country can throw at them and that’s why the experienced drivers are who we’re looking for.”

Employers need to invest in new drivers: instructor

Employers have a big role to play in developing new drivers because there’s always more to learn, even after an initial course has been completed, agreed Bob Gamble, supervisor of Fanshawe College’s transportation department.

“It may seem more cost effective to send a new driver out on the roads right away, but because they’re more at risk for being in collision, in the long run, it’s better for companies to make the investment to ensure a driver is safe to go out and there be on their own,” he said. 

“Drivers want to get out into the workforce and there is a large demand for them in the transportation industry, but we want to make sure they make a safe transition from their training to employment.”

More than 100 students complete Fanshawe’s program each year, and students get up to 180 hours of training, including classroom time, said Gamble. It goes beyond the Ministry of Transportation’s Mandatory Entry-Level Training (MELT) program, which requires a minimum of 103.5 hours of training.

However, IBC’s report notes that MELT is a loosely defined minimum amount for training for truck drivers and is only implemented in some provinces, but not all of Canada. 

The report laid out a number of recommendations, including more consistent training at truck driving schools across the country, adopting a graduated licensing system, and increased use of telematics — technology that collects data on drivers’ behaviour or performance on the road.

But positive change can only happen if truck driving schools and companies are regulated to follow these recommendations and emphasize safety over making quick money, said Zelek.

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