Convoy!!!
Like the Duck in the movie we took to the river to!!
Never one to be bound by convention or subtlety, it’s not surprising, then that mothers arrival was bound to stand out in both the minds of the medical crew from Angels of flight & that of the local community.
First off, it’s not everyone, who when confronted by a wall negativity (seemingly contrived by vested interests) towards allowing mother to fly commercially to El Salvador. I have no concrete proof of this conspiracy but “if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck & quacks like a duck, in all probability, it is a duck! Also after making my feelings on the subject explicitly known to all involved, the resulting hold back of a piece of pertinent information on her condition, prior to her flight , reeks of payback!
With the only option being transport by air ambulance, most would have given up on the idea, instead of doing the math, which indicated that one flight from Oshawa to San Salvador was equal to only 9 months fees at the nursing home. Then factor in the fact that, one months fees at the home buys 7 months care at home in El Salvador. Lastly factor in the quality of care, merely adequate in Ontario against very good in El Salvador.
You come up with a no brainer, El Salvador is the hands down winner all the way! Sorry Bowmanville but you’ll have to find another sucker to fill that bed! Likely one that will also fall for the McGuinty governments $4,000 wheel chair scam!!
Finally with all the BS roadblocks eliminated, the day of transport arrives & she is flown down on an Air Nunavut flight from Oshawa airport to San Salvador’s Compalapa airport. I drive in to meet the ambulance, to lead it to the house, the local satellite dish installers had to ask directions, a city ambulance driver sure isn’t going to find it.
So we leave the airport in a strange looking convoy, myself in my handi-trans bus (sporting Ontario plates), the ambulance (with lights flashing) followed by an SUV containing 3 people from Air Support (no idea why other than it was a nice day for a drive in the country).
Now last spring’s floods took out a bridge on Hwy CA-2, turning the 1/2 hr direct route to Playa San Diego into a 1 1/2 hr journey through San Salvador. However with the advent of dry season, light vehicles have been fording the river just upstream from the bridge, so our little convoy takes to the river (gives a whole new meaning to “river road”), causing one of the Canadian medical team to comment that, that was a trip for his resume, as he had been in many strange situations but had never forded a river in an ambulance before! He didn’t comment on the 3 times we had to stop to let cows cross the highway, though.
Of course upon reaching the mile or so long street into Playa San Diego, our little convoy drew many inquiring looks from the locals, nothing like arriving in style with red lights flashing!
So that’s how mother made her arrival into our little seaside community!
Tags: Travel
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