{"id":856382,"date":"2026-08-13T08:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856382\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T08:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T08:54:16","slug":"rural-familys-hunt-for-sask-hospital-bed-ends-with-1300-ambulance-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856382\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural family’s hunt for Sask. hospital bed ends with $1,300 ambulance bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A family from Biggar says a lack of nearby emergency services has left them paying a big cost.<\/p>\n

Amy Haynes said an ambulance was called for her three-year-old son Nolan this spring, after he came down with a severe fever above 40\u00b0 C.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They took him to the local clinic, where they were told a fever that severe could lead to seizure and that emergency care was required.<\/p>\n

While calling for an ambulance, the family was told there were no available beds at all three hospitals in Saskatoon, and none in North Battleford or Swift Current.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn’t be this hard to access care,\u201d Haynes told CBC. \u201cIt was just frustrating that nowhere had a spot for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only solution was a two-and-a-half-hour ambulance ride to Prince Albert.<\/p>\n

That one-way trip came at a price tag of $1,300. <\/p>\n

\"AAmy Haynes said she was frustrated when a one-way ambulance ride to Prince Albert came at a price tag of over $1,300. The long drive was caused by a lack of beds in nearby hospitals. (Halyna Mihalik\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Haynes said getting the bill in the mail was upsetting, but not unexpected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was very bitter knowing that I was going to get it and when I got it, it was not surprising,\u201d she said. \u201cWhich is unfortunate, but it’s not our responsibility that there were no beds closer.”<\/p>\n

Doctors believed Nolan had a type of pneumonia. He received care in Prince Albert for a few days before the family could return home.<\/p>\n

\"ANolan Haynes received hospital care in Prince Albert after being turned away from six hospitals closer to home. (Submitted by Amy Haynes)<\/p>\n

The provincial Opposition NDP highlighted the family’s story at a news conference in Biggar on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does send a really chilling message to a lot of people through rural Saskatchewan: when you dial 911, where are you going to be taken?\u201d NDP MLA Keith Jorgenson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s the financial cost of that. But also that extra 10 kilometers, 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers in some cases could be the difference between somebody surviving a traumatic incident and not.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Sask. family hit with $1,300 ambulance bill after search for son’s care:\"\"<\/p>\n

Sask. family hit with $1,300 ambulance bill after search for son’s care<\/p>\n

The Haynes family from Biggar, Sask., says they tried without success to get their three-year-old son admitted to hospital in North Battleford, Swift Current and Saskatoon. Now they’re frustrated that a 235-kilometre ambulance ride to Prince Albert left them with a $1,300 bill.<\/p>\n

Jorgensen said the case raises serious questions about the impact of hospital capacity pressures on patients and families.<\/p>\n

The provincial government told CBC it’s working to expand capacity in Saskatoon hospitals by adding another 146 beds.<\/p>\n

It noted ambulance services are not an insured benefit under the Canada Health Act and there is no coverage for ambulance transport between hospitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-856382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}