Thread by @pitsiulaaq

My 73 year old mum was medivac’d to Ottawa today in order to have a diagnostic procedure that is normally available in Iqaluit.

(I’m on leave from Director, Travel Programs, Health. Sharing info that’s public knowledge)

The cost of a single medivac can be upwards of $40,000

In 2019 the Health department forecasted 2,400 medevacs for coming year, based on that growth.

That’s compared to about 33,000 planned medical travel trips planned for the year.

The territory’s proposed budget overall Medical Travel budget was $92.3 million.

The current..

..state of emergency in Iqaluit has impacted our only hospital’s ability to provide my mum’s urgently required procedure because the equipment that is needed can not be safely sterilized due to the fuel in the water..

I heard unofficially while at Emergency with my mum that others have had to be medivac’d.

I know that if I was at work, I would have immediately kicked into gear with our health and travel teams to respond to this emergency because we would have either divert or cancel patients

This current emergency coupled with the impact on Medical Travel due to Covid throughout the territory means that Inuit are not accessing much needed healthcare.
The long term impacts of the interruptions in healthcare service are difficult to measure now, but will most certainly

..be apparent in the coming years.

In order to provide care closer to home, we urgently need to stabilize our city’s infrastructure to ensure that we can provide treatment, preventative care, follow up, and diagnostic services for eastern Nunavummiut here in Iqaluit.

Today’s medivac was also complicated by the fact that my passport expired (again, Covid) as did my driver’s licence. Renewed it in early September and am still waiting for it to get here.
The licences are produced down south..and so we wait.
I couldn’t travel as her Escort w/o ID

This is a common experience for many Inuit who have to go on Medical Travel as it is difficult to obtain photo ID in remote communities.

When it impacts either Medical Travel patients, or their Escorts, Health works with the airline to ensure their ability to fly home..

ID is not required to board a medivac flight, and if the medivac is on a scheduled flight, the Health team works with the (northern) airlines to ensure patients and escorts can board.

Mum went alone today bc my daughter is in YOW and will take care of her when discharged💕

FYI the cost of one Medical Travel Escort is covered if the patient

Needs the legal consent of a parent or guardian

Has a mental or physical condition that makes them unable to travel alone

Is a unilingual Inuit language speaking Client travelling to an Approved Centre..

..where interpretive services are not available.

Needs an escort to take medical instructions for home medical or nursing procedures

Is a unilingual Inuit language speaking Client aged 65 or older

A surprising example for Canadians would be:

Because there aren’t enough midwives and Health Centres are not fully equipped for labour and childbirth, mothers from eastern Nunavut fly to Iqaluit weeks before they are due and give birth here

Usually the Escort is the father and they have to leave their families, including their children behind at home.

I’m not sure if pregnant women are currently being diverted to somewhere else during the emergency #Iqaluit #WaterIsLife

The waiting list for children needing dental surgery in Nunavut was at about 500 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of COVID the wait-list has doubled to 1,000

The territory's only hospital, in Iqaluit, is the sole place where general anesthesia can be given.

The Inuit Oral Health survey, conducted by @NTunngavik Nunavut Tunngavik in 2008 to 2009, found 85 per cent of Inuit children aged three to five had had one or more cavities.
About 97 per cent of those aged 12 to 17 had at least one tooth affected by decay.

I’m not sure where or if these children are being diverted to care outside the territory during Iqaluit’s water emergency.
#DentalHealth #EveryChildMatters #InuitHealth #Iqaluit

For those who are new here, here’s a great Inuktut lesson from @KoonooHan who happens to have a great new children’s book out!
#Inuk #Inuuk #Inuit

https://twitter.com/koonoohan/status/1403009456519012352

100s & 100s of workers and volunteers have distributed water over the past week, 1000s of families have lined up outside to collect water
The weather started off rainy, turned beautiful, then 2 days of high winds +cold. Today is fair.
It’s days b4 winter and full freeze arrives

When the temps plunge to -25 and lower in the coming weeks, our emergency water supply at the Sylvia Grinnell River will be harder to access and bottled H20 will freeze outside.
Distribution and access will become far more difficult!

https://twitter.com/teirersias/status/1450228209723785216

The city has been pumping from Sylvia Grinnell and families gather the fast flowing water from the banks. The freeze up is beginning, despite the flow.
It’s days away from becoming inaccessible to individuals for weeks until it’s safe enough to travel over the ice & cut holes

https://twitter.com/FrankReardon1/status/1450151691383418889

There is much work to be done to ensure Nunavummiut reach substantive equity with other Canadians and we need urgent action on climate change to protect our environment & infrastructure
Listen to CBC’s @oleepeeka & @McKayJacqueline talk about our current crisis

#Iqaluit

https://twitter.com/cbcnorth/status/1450763393992888321