Revised- The Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) is speaking out following the territory’s most recent health clinic closure in Mayo.

“This is a large issue, and it doesn’t impact just one community,” president Ted Laking told the Star Monday.

“It’s impacting several communities in rural Yukon.”

Mayo’s clinic was closed from July 10 to July 19 due to staffing shortages which have impacted the Yukon’s health care system for some time.

Mayo’s is one of four clinics that have dealt with closures this summer.

The other three include the Teslin Health Centre, July 6 to 11; Pelly Crossing Health Centre, July 10 to Aug. 4; and the Destruction Bay Health Centre, July 12 to 24.

The Pelly Crossing Health Centre is currently closed for 25 days – nearly a month.

Laking said Monday the closure in Mayo was unacceptable, and the lack of adequate health care has the potential to put residents at risk.

“We know that somebody having a health care professional available on an urgent basis is necessary in some situations to protect lives,” he told the Star.

“So we see it as unacceptable to shut down a health centre in 
rural Yukon.”

Kate Erwin from the Department of Health and Social Services told the Star about measures the government prepared in light of the closure:

Residents who need emergency assistance should call 911.

From July 12 to 20, Yukon’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team expanded operations to mitigate the impacts of the Mayo Health Centre closure, which included placing additional paramedics in the community.

During a service reduction, EMS expands support as more paramedics become available. In addition, EMS uses Whitehorse Operations and the Air Ambulances services to provide additional support.

In Mayo, local community responders are available to respond. In the event additional support is required, EMS will expand operations in the community.

For non-emergency health care needs, residents can call the 811 Yukon HealthLine, available 24/7 for advice and support.

Laking and the AYC have addressed the closure issues with Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee on multiple occasions dating back to last September.

“It wasn’t until pressure from the NDP that the government responded almost two months after we had raised this issue,” he said.

“And the response at the time was that ‘everything’s under control, don’t worry about it. We’re working on a plan.’

“It’s great that they’re working on a plan but clearly, the plans aren’t working yet, because here we are almost a year later, and we’re seeing some shortages in our communities again.”

Laking said this builds on to another issue the AYC has concerns about: the lapses in survival of emergency medical services in rural Yukon.

Laking said due to staffing issues, the government is some-times unable to provide EMS services in rural Yukon.

“When this happens, there’s not always full communication with the municipalities, who often are the level of government that people will go to when they have a concern or an issue or they’re in a panic situation,” he continued.

“And at our annual general meeting in Watson lake this past spring, there was actually a lapse in EMS services provided for that community while we were there, ironically, and we passed an urgent resolution at our annual general meeting, calling on the government to take action on this and to take efforts to prevent these lapses in services.

The Whitehorse city councillor said the lapses in services to EMS and the lack of nurses in the communities are resulting in rolling closures of health centres.

“We have some significant concerns on what this means for the health and sustainability of our communities.”

Laking said a short-term solution is needed.

“I don’t think it is acceptable to close a health care centre in rural Yukon for up to 10 days. I just don’t think that that’s reasonable,” he said.

“If you got into an emergency situation, and you are 600 kilometres away from Whitehorse, what are you to do? Particularly if you’re an elder.

“There are major concerns here and we’re lucky we haven’t seen a catastrophe. We need to deal with this now. And that’s what we’re calling on the government to do.”

Laking said the AYC would be very interested to sit down with all governments including the territorial, federal and First Nation governments to discuss the issue.

“This is impacting the people in our communities, the seniors in our communities, the elders in our communities, and I don’t think in this day and age in Canada, it’s acceptable to be without reasonable access to health care and in an emergency situation,” he said.

The Department of Health and Social Services explained that communities are facing service reductions because the Yukon, like the rest of Canada, is impacted by the health human resource shortage and the reductions in the Yukon’s care system have resulted from the shortage.

“To mitigate the impact on Yukoners, the Yukon government continues work to recruit and retain health care providers,” reads the emailed statement.

“The health and wellbeing of our workforce is also a priority. Reducing services at health centres during staff shortages is one way we are preventing burn-out among nurses in communities.”

Laking said the AYC knows it’s very competitive to get nursing help in any jurisdiction, but noted that the government can do more. It should be doing everything possible to make the Yukon the most competitive jurisdiction, he said.

“We should be providing more support to our nurses. Make this a desirable location to come. We should be looking at remuneration for nursing and making sure that we have the most competitive rates so that people across the world want to come to the Yukon and live in rural Yukon and provide these nursing services.”

When nurses continually tell the AYC’s members about their burnout and lack of services, he said, it leads to shortages, and does not make the Yukon a competitive or desirable location.

“We think that there’s a lot of things that can be done to make it so people want to go live in these small communities in rural Yukon and stay in small communities in rural Yukon because they will then develop families and give back to the communities and become essential parts, and everybody wants their community to succeed, and so that’s what we’re looking to the Government of Yukon to do,” he said.

While visiting communities last fall, Laking mentioned an issue that was brought up during a meeting.

“There was a nurse in the community that had, I believe, was LPM credentials and they reached out to the Department of Health and Social Services seeking employment to help out at the health centre.

“And the response back that they received was that they were only interested in hiring RNs at this point in time. And so in our view, we thought that is a bit short-sighted, particularly when you’re facing staffing shortages.”

Laking added he is not saying the scope of practice is the same between the two professions or the two levels. However, he thinks something is better than nothing.

“And that is part of what we indicated to the Government of Yukon last September was that we think one of the areas that could help address this is by looking at ways to utilize the existing skill sets in the communities because when you hear about a nurse that the government didn’t want to hire and is working as a grocery clerk, that seems like a wasted opportunity to help address some of the health issues in our communities,” he continued.

His main concern is the Yukon ending up in a situation where someone needs to see a nurse quickly and is unable to do that, and as a result, their condition worsens, or they put their life at risk.

“We’ve heard anecdotally scenarios that have played out in several communities. Where somebody has broken a bone and been unable to see somebody for an extended period of time.

“I’ve heard of issues with shortages of volunteer ambulance drivers in some of our communities, meaning that they weren’t able to be medevaced quickly. And so I think that these issues need to be resolved, and they need to be resolved quickly,” Laking said.

“How are we going to continue to grow rural Yukon and our communities and make people want to move and stay in our communities if you don’t have something as basic as health care readily available to you?”

The Department of Health and Social Services said the government understands that service reductions affect residents in the communities, and they’re working to reduce the impacts the best they can.

“Nurses are an integral part of Yukon communities, and we must support their wellness and burnout among health care providers is a real and pressing issue,” reads the email.

“We value the nurses who choose to serve our communities and are making sure they get the break they need so they can continue to serve Yukon communities long-term.

“During this time, EMS has expanded their services in the communities to provide additional coverage.”

Discussing a potential solution, Laking asked what is being done in terms of compensation.

“How can we offer bonuses? Can we offer solutions for housing? Can we offer extra benefits to go and live in these communities? Can we reach out to more agency nursing or anything like that?” he asked.

“I think that there’s a whole gamut of options on the table. The government just needs to look at them seriously and be willing to spend the money to address the issue.”

The Department of Health and Social Services said the government and its health system partners acknowledge the intensity of the workforce crisis and are taking action to address it.

“In response to health human resources shortages, the Yukon government has launched a health human resources steering committee, jointly led by the Government of Yukon and the Yukon Hospital Corporation. Membership also includes health and social system partners and other Yukon government departments.

“The steering committee’s mandate is to provide recommendations for short, medium and long-term solutions to address the health human resource challenges being felt across the globe. As part of this process, the committee is developing a Health Human Resources Strategy,” reads the email.

They said at the same time, immediate and emergency health human resource shortages are being managed at the operational level by the Department of Health and Social Services and the Yukon Hospital Corp. More details about the steering committee will be released later.