No nurses in Faro, Yukon, prompts month-long closure of health centre
Faro’s health centre will be closed from Aug. 6 to Sept. 5
The health centre in Faro, Yukon, will be closed for a month starting Aug. 6 due to staff shortages, with a reopening date of Sept. 5.
There will be no nurses in the community during this period, the Department of Health and Social Services said.
In a post to social media, the department said a Yukon emergency medical services (EMS) primary care paramedic will be stationed in Faro for emergency coverage. The post urges people to call 911 for emergencies or 811 for non-emergency health questions.
The temporary closure comes on the heels of the health centre’s service being reduced on July 21 until Aug. 6.
CBC has reached out to Health and Social Services for more information about the closure.
Mayor Jack Bowers said the news of the closure has many Faro residents “quite concerned.”
“We’ve got an older community,” Bowers said. “Our demographics are a higher percentage of older people in the community. Some of them require daily assistance with their medication and services that, you know, I’m not quite sure how that will work out for folks.”
Bowers said if services are needed that can’t be provided by the primary care paramedic stationed in the community, the next-closest health centres are in Ross River, 72 kilometres away, or Carmacks, 181 kilometres away.
Bowers said in the event of an emergency, people will be better off going to Carmacks, which is closer to Whitehorse and its hospital — but that comes with a few concerns as well.
“There’s many in the community that don’t have the ability to drive,” Bowers said. “The other part of that is if you’ve got ongoing health conditions, your medical files are all in Faro — and so the nurse in Carmacks or Ross River is not going to know your background or have easy access to that information.”
Bowers said the town members of the community have vowed to step up to help each other out in any capacity they can, including providing rides to Carmacks or Whitehorse if needed.
“We have each other’s backs,” he said. “If there’s anything that any of us can do to help those who are in need … please just ask. We’ll step up.”
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Nunavik health board proposes hiring private staff to help curb tuberculosis outbreak, CBC News
United States: Senators, including Alaska’s, sound alarm on cuts impacting Indigenous health care agency, Eye on the Arctic
