Pelly Crossing, Yukon, residents worried by planned 3-week health centre closure

The health centre in Pelly Crossing, Yukon, may have to close for three weeks due to a staff shortage.

The Selkirk First Nation announced the anticipated closure on its Facebook page Tuesday. The closure is planned for April 29 to May 21.

Pelly Crossing's health centre is the only place people can fill prescriptions in the community. The next closest health centre is in Carmacks, more than 100 kilometres to the south. 

Resident Cheryl Patterson says the planned closure is the latest headache for the Pelly health centre, which she said is constantly facing a high turnover of staff.

"I was really upset because we've had some struggles with the changing nurses and the understanding in the community," she said. "They send us doctors that don't suit the people there. They send us nurses that don't understand people there. And they seem to be rotating all the time. So there's no consistent care for people in Pelly."

The Yukon health department says it's trying to fix the staff shortage and avoid a closure, possibly with a reduction in service hours instead of a full-blown shutdown.

"Some of the work that is happening now [is] to address those situations where if someone is in the community and they have a chronic condition or they need a certain level of care that maybe they can't get in the community, then those other plans that are being made now," said Nigel Allen, a spokesperson with the health department.

He said one possibility is to station paramedics in the community to cut down on travel time if someone needs medical attention. Allen also urged residents to contact the health centre before the closure to make plans for prescriptions or medical travel.

It's the latest health-care staffing issue for the government. The Pelly health centre was closed for a day and a half over the holidays because no nurses were available, though Emergency Medical Services were stationed there in case of emergency. And surgeries had to be delayed at the Whitehorse General Hospital over the holidays in 2023 due to a shortage of agency nurses.

Yukon Party health critic Brad Cathers said the government needs to adopt a better plan to recruit nurses for rural communities, including more competitive salaries and incentives. 

Cather also said the government hasn't acted quickly enough to recruit health-care workers who might be looking to get out of the United States. 

"There is some urgency to the situation and it's also a time that there is an opportunity for the Yukon to reach out to those health professionals and to get some of them working here," he said.