Eye on the Arctic video archive: Do mobility devices in the Arctic need a rethink?

Eye on the Arctic brings you stories and newsmakers from across the North

This week on Eye on the Arctic, we’re dipping into our video vault for a look at mental health services in the North. 

CAMBRIDGE BAY, Canada _ Recovering from knee surgery isn’t easy for anyone, but for Jimmy Okhina Sr., living in Arctic Canada made it that much more of a challenge.

The surgery took place in Yellowknife, the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Afterwards, Okhina was given a walker to take back to his home community of Cambridge Bay in Canada’s High Arctic.

He quickly realized it wasn’t going to do him much good.

“It’s OK for inside, but outside? No good in the snow,” he says. “Too hard to push.”

The lack of mobility affected Okhina’s ability to do everything from shopping to going out on the land with his family.

So he decided to ditch the walker and find his own solution, making an ‘Arctic-adapted’ walker himself, based on the construction of the Inuit sleds he’s spent his life building.

Eye on the Arctic spent a morning with him to find out how he did it.

Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca

Related stories from around the North:

Canada:  International nursing students gather in Saskatchewan to talk northern health care, Eye on the Arctic

Finland:  Falls on the ice cost Helsinki, Finland a million in damages, Yle News

Norway: Nordic diet a heart-smart alternative, Radio Sweden

Russia:  Reindeer herders evacuated from anthrax zone in Russian Arctic, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden:  The Sami Health Paradox, Radio Sweden

United States:  Alaska Villages without running water or health aides: Federal officials hear about challenges, Alaska Dispatch News

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