With her glass of cold juice left, Christine Finngaard and her mother Anne relax on the balcony. Late Tuesday night they came home after a 14-hour drive back and forth from Trondheim. She has to take the trip every three months to get very important treatment. The flight ticket was arranged through patient travel. But when the settings started to come due to the aircraft technician strike, she feared that she would not arrive in time to receive treatment. And if the plane went back afterwards. The trip to Trondheim and back is over 100 miles, and took seven hours each way. Here Christine Finngaard relaxes with her mother Anne the day after they returned home. Photo: Knut Are Tornås / news And when the Dovre line was closed due to fire, trains were not an option either. – We therefore decided to take the car instead, and drive uphill. We had to travel because Trondheim is the only one that can offer this treatment in Norway, she told news. Intense pain Finngaard has chronic cluster headaches. She compares the pain to someone stabbing her in the head and rooting around. Before, she could have six to twelve such seizures a day. But after she started treatment in Trondheim, she has around one seizure a day. – The treatment is vital for me. I have had a completely different quality of life after I received the treatment. Mother Anne Finngaard says she is glad they took the trip, even though it was 14 long hours in the car for the two. – It is a long way, especially when she has cluster headaches. But we got up, got treatment. And after that, it was just a matter of getting home again. Could not postpone Dei does not know if the plane Christine should have taken was canceled, but they did not dare take the chance. If Finngaard had not arrived at the hospital in Trondheim in time, she would probably have had to wait a long time for the next hour. – We who have received the offer of this treatment are lucky, but when we receive the offer in an hour, we must say yes. It is not possible to postpone an hour, she says. The plane tickets she had booked were with SAS. Press spokesman Lars Wigelstorp Andersen writes in an e-mail to news that they are doing what they can to ensure that the passengers arrive on time. – It is of course important for us that customers can trust that our planes are flying. But no airline can guarantee cancellations. In such situations, we do everything we can to find a replacement departure for the passengers. Serious for patients There are many patients who are dependent on aircraft because the treatment or examination is to take place in another city in the country. When the labor dispute now escalates, and the ambulance plane is also hit, it will have major consequences for patients, says national spokesperson for the Patient and User Ombudsman, Jannicke Bruvik. – This can potentially be a disaster for the patient when it is urgent. We take this seriously and hope that they will find a solution very soon. For some patients, such as those who are in line to be transplanted, an attitude can be life-threatening, she says. – If either the patient or the organ does not arrive in time, there is a risk that one loses the chance. There is a window for a few hours. So it can be the difference between life and death in the situation the patients are in now, she says.
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Christine Finngaard drove for 14 hours to get a doctor’s appointment – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
