Brittany Parkinson is a dedicated mother to her daughters, Kya and Sophia. When her husband, Logan, is not busy at the family’s marina, they enjoy spending their time together out on the lake boating. Brittany would drive her girls to school every morning, taking the same route as the day before. What was not the same was the ride in an Ornge helicopter that Brittany would need to save her life. 

It was March 26, 2025, and Brittany was driving her girls to school. She had activated cruise control and was driving the country highways she always took to get to the school. Suddenly, Brittany felt faint and tried to pull over. However, she was unable to brake in time and crashed up a rock embankment on the side of the road, where her car then rolled coming back down. Fortunately, Brittany’s youngest daughter only suffered a broken arm in the accident, and her eldest was unharmed. However, Brittany suffered serious injuries. 

“I was broken from the head down. I had a traumatic brain injury because I hit my head twice, a chipped tooth, a lacerated spleen and liver, fractured my spine, broke my wrist, hand and thumb that required plates, screws, and surgery. My right leg from the knee down was completely twisted one way and the bone in my ankle had broken completely out. Broke all my ribs and required chest tubes,” said Brittany. 

Once paramedics arrived on scene, Brittany was rushed to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital, where the attending clinicians requested transport with Ornge due to Brittany’s extensive injuries. Brittany’s husband and family were able to say goodbye as the transport crew wheeled her out to the awaiting helicopter. 

“I was already sleeping. They told my husband and my parents to give me a hug and a kiss. I was already in the stretcher wrapped up and strapped in ready to go,” said Brittany. 

Once at Sunnybrook, Brittany began her long journey of multiple surgeries, a one-week ICU stay, and a total of 38 days in the hospital all the while being away from her husband and daughters. Brittany describes it as the worst time for her and her family. 

“It was horrible. It was the worst time for our family. I had never gone through anything medical like that before other than two c-sections for the births of my children. I’m a living kidney donor, I gave my kidney to my grandma when I was 21,” said Brittany. “I went from being perfectly healthy to literally every single thing being wrong and impaired. It was a huge toll on our family, and it was a lot on my husband. He basically became a single dad overnight because I was gone for 38 days.”  

When it was time for Brittany to be discharged, she was in disbelief, but relieved to be going home to her family. The external fasteners that were placed to help heal Brittany’s leg complicated the option of sending her to a rehab facility, but ultimately, she was sent home with a hospital bed in her living room. While at Sunnybrook, Brittany was cared for by multiple doctors, surgeons and nurses including Ornge’s CEO, Dr. Homer Tien, who managed and signed Brittany’s discharge. 

“It was very unexpected. Every day I begged to go home because I have two small children. My priority was getting back to being a mom, even though I fully couldn’t. When they came in Wednesday and said you’re going home Friday, I actually couldn’t believe it,” said Brittany. “When I was in Sunnybrook, Dr. Homer Tien was actually head of critical trauma and he was the one who discharged me. He is the most humble man I ever met in my life. He personally took an hour to come and talk to me before I left the hospital. To learn who he was after was absolutely mind blowing.” 

Today, just over a year after her accident, Brittany has returned mostly to a normal life, attending physiotherapy three times a week to build her strength, and is forever grateful for all the care she received from the Ornge transport team and the clinical staff at Sunnybrook.

“Thank you can’t be enough for them, but I wouldn’t be standing here with my kids and my family and friends if it wasn’t for them. Thank you even though that’s not enough,” said Brittany. “And a thank you to every single team member because all of you are a huge part of the best team there is next to Sunnybrook,” said Brittany.

We acknowledge and thank the pilots, paramedics, and Operations Control Staff for their dedication to making Brittany’s transport safe and patient-centred while also exhibiting a commitment to demonstrating accountability, respect, and kindness and compassion. These values were put into action at every point of Brittany’s journey that ultimately saved her life. 

“I would say they checked off every single one of those boxes and now I’m just living in my grateful era I call it which is so corny but it’s true. I am here to hug my children, to laugh with my friends, and to live. Thank you, Ornge, from the bottom of my heart, and thank you to the entire ICU team who helped me bridge that terrifying gap,” said Brittany. 
   
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• Patients and Families