A Manitoba First Nation says a nursing shortage in their community has led to many of its residents going without basic health care since last year.
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation — 800 km north of Winnipeg — has had to open its nursing station only during emergencies, as the community of 3,500 is served by only two nurses.
Chief Angela Levasseur said residents have to leave the community, usually to Thompson, Man., 80 km west, even for the most routine health-care needs — even to refill medication.
At a press conference Monday, Levasseur and other Manitoba Indigenous leaders called on the federal government to fund an additional three nurses for Nisichawayasihk.
“It results in our people, including infants and elders, being denied critical medical care and being told to go to Thompson,” she said.
“That’s very problematic because the Thompson General Hospital is always very full. The emergency room is full. Thompson serves not only the city of Thompson, but many other surrounding communities and First Nations, and they cannot handle the added strain and pressure of having all of our nation’s citizens travel to Thompson to seek medical care.”
Levasseur said the situation is unacceptable not only for the First Nation’s population, but also for the nurses who are currently there, who are at risk of burnout from being overworked.
The federal government, she said, also needs to address the wage gap between what it pays nurses, and the salaries offered by private nursing operations.
“In some of the worst situations, we’ve had reports of nurses working around the clock in a 24-hour period, maybe getting two to three hours of sleep, and that is unacceptable.”
Nisichawayasihk isn’t the only northern First Nation struggling with a health-care crisis.
Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation has previously raised the alarm about nursing woes at northern First Nations, and said Monday that his community is allotted 13 nurses, but the actual number of health workers is far lower.
“We average anywhere from five to six nurses to service about 8,000 people,” Monias said Monday.
“And this forces the nursing station to close down for emergency purposes only. I don’t know what happens to that money that’s been saved by all these shortages.”
Monias said he has inquired about getting private nurses up to Pimicikamak to fill the gaps, but was told there’s not enough funding available to make that happen.
“If that were you, I think you would cry out the same way that we are,” he said.
“The majority of our people die as a result of health and lack of medical services. And that’s a plain fact. It’s a fact that we continue to see day in and day out.”
— with files from The Canadian Press