Some chronic medical treatment no longer available in Dawson City, Yukon

When the new hospital was built in Dawson City, Yukon, a decade ago, it was designed to meet most of the community's medical needs.

It has an emergency room, a medical clinic, a health centre and a pharmacy. There are six in-patient care rooms and seven treatment beds.

So when some local residents received a letter from the Yukon Hospital Corporation earlier this month notifying them that they will now have to travel to Whitehorse to receive treatment for their chronic medical conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), it didn't sit well.

The Sept. 15 letter said that after Oct. 31, infusion care would only be available through the Whitehorse General Hospital Medical Daycare. It said iron infusions, phlebotomy, and port-a-cath flushes can still be accessed in Dawson. 

"It's really, really frustrating," said resident Sue Lancaster, who lives with MS — a disabling disease of the brain and central nervous system.

Symptoms of MS include fatigue, vision problems, numbness and tingling of limbs, muscle spasms, and body pain.

Treatment options for relapsing-remitting MS include injectable, oral, and infusion medications.

Lancaster says she needs to get infusions every 28 days to keep her condition stable. For the past three years she's been receiving the treatment in Dawson.

"Any nurse can provide the treatment," she told CBC News.

"They were all trained when I first started taking it here when they switched me from Whitehorse to here. It was amazing. to be able to not have to leave my home."

Lancaster said for the past year a support nurse was taking care of her file and making sure her medication was available and ready to go. She explained that the nurse would monitor her regularly and ensure that she received proper care. 

Lancaster said now that there's no longer a support nurse based in Dawson she will have to make the 533-kilometre trip to Whitehorse every 28 days.

Lancaster says because of her condition she has no feeling in her feet. She said driving to Whitehorse is not a safe option for her so she would have to fly.

"My whole life could be up in the air with this lack of service," she told CBC News.

"I'm going to be missing work at minimum three days up to five or six days, every 28 days. Plus on top of that, if it's delayed for any reason with the weather and the planes can't fly then I could potentially have a relapse. These treatments are what keep me working."

A relapse of MS is the occurrence of new symptoms or the worsening of old symptoms. It can be very mild, or severe enough to interfere with a person's ability to function.

Dawson hospital 'can't safely support' some treatments, gov't says

Jessica Apolloni, communications manager for the Yukon Hospital Corporation (YHC), said the decision to stop providing those treatments in Dawson City was made because the hospital "can't safely support these more complex procedures in the community." 

Apolloni told CBC News that the Dawson hospital relies on temporary, or "agency" nurses, and they don't always have the training or experience to deliver and monitor infusions.

Apolloni said that like every other jurisdiction across Canada, the Yukon Hospital Corporation is experiencing staff shortages so in the meantime, this is the best solution.

"Dawson City community hospital is prepared to provide guidance on the referral process to get to Whitehorse General Hospital and can answer any questions that any patients have during this transition," she said.

Like Lancaster, Dawson City resident Lee Kirby also questions the territory's decision. Kirby told CBC News that she acts as caregiver to her roommate, who also lives with MS.

"The stress of travelling back and forth to Whitehorse and taking time off work, I feel is going to put them in a stressful situation where the medication may not be doing its job to a hundred per cent," she said.

Kirby said she is more than happy to help out her roommate but she admits it can at times be a bit of a heavy load while juggling her full time job..

"They're often in quite a lot of pain," she said. 

"Especially when they relapse. Which means I have to take over all of the household duties, plus assist them in extra medicine-taking for pain, to get them to and from appointments here, and other things they have to do — and that becomes my job."

Kirby wants the government to reconsider the decision and keep infusion care in Dawson City.

"Bring the support nurse back," she said.

"Train the nurses that are here because the Whitehorse General Hospital is already overburdened. Adding not just the people who are in Dawson but all of the communities flying in and out ... We had a hospital built a number of years ago for this specific purpose."