Cliff Kostiuck doesn’t want to see his parents torn hundreds of kilometres apart due to a lack of long-term care options in Watson Lake.
His parents have lived in the Yukon community for 72 years. This year, his mother was admitted to hospital as she had lost her mobility, Kostiuck said by email.
He said the family went through the process of having her transported more than 400 kilometres away to Whitehorse on such short notice that his 98-year-old father was chasing the ambulance to the airport to say goodbye.
Now, his mother has moved back to Watson Lake while she waits for a long-term care bed in Whitehorse, per Kostiuck.
“I would like to thank the premier for the lack of services in the rural areas of the Yukon and for stealing our family’s time with our parents. This is not rocket science: if there were the same services in the rural areas as Whitehorse, people would be able to age in place as your health mandate states,” Kostiuck said.
“After 72 years in a community, you would think that people should have the option [of] extended care in their communities and not be ripped apart due to your lack of action to get it done.”
Health Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee told the Yukon Legislative Assembly on Nov. 20 that there is nobody on the waiting list for long-term care from Watson Lake as of September. When asked by the Yukon Party, McPhee told the house the previous week that two long-term care beds planned and publicly announced for the community were put on hold because the community doesn’t want them.
READ MORE: Previously announced long-term care beds for Watson Lake ‘on hold’: minister
Yukon Party MLA for Watson Lake Patti McLeod told the legislature that the community of Watson Lake has been pushing for a new long-term care facility for years. She presented a petition signed by 527 residents in the legislative assembly in October 2021. The undersigned called for the Yukon government to start planning for the construction of a continuing care facility in Watson Lake.
On Nov. 20, McLeod pressed McPhee on when the decision not to go ahead with the two beds was made and why it took the Official Opposition questioning about the decision during the question period for it to be made public.
“We had money in the budget in addition to the announcement that was made with respect to having those long-term care beds and making those particular rooms located in the Watson Lake hospital a bit more home-like and a bit more comfortable for individuals to stay in so that they could receive those services,” McPhee responded.
“We also had money in the budget to pursue the caregivers there. That has been placed on hold, as I have noted.”
The minister didn’t commit to funding the construction of a long-term care facility in Watson Lake.
“I won’t commit to building anything. What I will commit to doing is working with communities — all communities, including Watson Lake — to make sure that we are meeting the needs of long-term care for that community,” McPhee said.
“It is on hold at the moment because we seek to best understand the local needs and values. The information that I have is that the long-term care option that was presented was not something supported by the community at the time. We continue to work to assess the opportunities to support Yukoners, including through the implementation of the Aging in Place Action Plan and Putting People First.”
According to Kostiuck, people like his parents should be able to age in place in their home community, which is Watson Lake for them. He said the experience has changed his father from being self-sufficient to requiring full-time assistance.
In the spring, Premier Ranj Pillai, who is in charge of the Yukon housing file, tabled a housing assessment done by Vink Consulting for Watson Lake, dated August 2020.
Per the report, there is a 12-unit seniors complex in the community where seniors in need can get housekeeping, personal care and home care. Home care can typically support seniors until they need to go to hospital or long-term care. The report indicates the community is too small for a long-term care facility. Therefore, seniors requiring long-term care must go to Whitehorse.
According to the latest census data via Statistics Canada, 15 per cent of the population in the Yukon is 65 years old and up, and one per cent is 85 years old and over. The most recent population report from June 2023 via the Yukon Bureau of Statistics indicates that more than 14 per cent of Watson Lake’s population is age 65 and older, and another 17 per cent is 50 to 64 years old. Just over 1,500 people live in Watson Lake, per the bureau’s data.
A Nov. 10 email directed to the chief administrative officer of Watson Lake and the chief executive officer of the Yukon Hospital Corporation and carbon copied to others, including McLeod, was provided to the News by the Yukon Party. In the email, Terri Szabo stresses that the aging community of Watson Lake “desperately” needs long-term care or assisted living as soon as possible.
Chief executive officer Jason Bilsky responded to the email with a letter dated Nov. 17.
In the letter, Bilsky recognizes that having the choice to age in a person’s home community is important. Bilsky indicates that engagement with the community found that the proposed two long-term care rooms at the Watson Lake Community Hospital are not enough, and the community wants to discuss the needs for a long-term care facility in the community as opposed to two beds embedded in a hospital.
Bilsky also indicated a community needs assessment is taking place with the goal of understanding what the health-care needs are for Watson Lake. Decisions about future programming will be informed by this assessment and conversations in the community, he wrote.
An email statement from the Health and Social Services department confirms the community needs assessment is underway.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com