'I just find it absolutely appalling': Manitoba man forced to drive half hour to another ER after first had no doctor

No doctor at ER, Manitoban travelled to next town A Manitoba man who needed stitches had to drive to another town when there wasn't a doctor at his nearest ER. Michelle Gerwing reports.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba man says he's lucky a recent injury which happened cutting fire wood wasn't more serious.

Kevin Barylski said he needed stitches but had to drive to the next town's emergency room for care in the Interlake-Eastern Health Region.

This past Saturday, Barylski said he broke the cardinal rule of cutting wood with a chainsaw—cut away from yourself.

"As I came through, and swing, it just caught at the end," he said as he acted out what happened.

The result was a gash in his knee that needed stitches.

Barylski said he was in the Arborg area so he went to the local emergency room.

"My dad went and said that they don’t administer stitches in that hospital anymore and that I’d have to go to Gimli because they don’t have a doctor on hand," he said.

Barylski said he went to the Arborg ER and staff did what they could, but he did have to drive the half an hour to Gimli to get eight stitches.

"I just find it absolutely appalling and shocking that I had to drive half an hour away to go get basic medical needs," he told CTV News Monday.

A representative from the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority (IERHA) tells CTV News there are ongoing physician shortages in the region.

For the last five years, it's been posting emergency room statuses—showing when and where a doctor is working an ER—on the health region's website.

“Anyone attending an emergency department without a physician onsite will be seen by a nurse and redirected or transported (depending on acuity and access to transportation) to sites that can deliver appropriate care,” reads the region's response.

With hunting season coming soon Barylski is concerned the area's ER may be without a doctor at a time it’s needed.

"Arborg, and every area around there too, it's an aging community. So what happens if there was a real emergency that happened and there wasn't a doctor?”

“For me it was the fact and I had to go and get this done, but if it were something that was more serious than that's when seconds are vital?” Barylski asks.

Barylski said he had a first-aid kit which he used, and advises everyone headed out into the country for any reason to make sure they have one on hand just in case they need to drive to an emergency room that's farther away.

The IERHA representative said during the pandemic, it found more physicians were able to take a shift in an emergency department as patients were reluctant to visit clinics and more recently, it is seeing the number of physician vacancies in emergency departments return to pre-covid levels.