Yukon gov't commits, again, to 2 long-term care beds at Watson Lake hospital

Yukon's health minister says a plan to have two long-term care beds available at the Watson Lake Hospital is back on track.

That's after the plan was put on hold late last year.

Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee now says the government is committed to moving forward with the project, though she did not provide any details about the timeline.

"Most recently in the legislative assembly I indicated that we would be pursuing the long-term care beds in Watson Lake," McPhee said. "We hope the community of Watson Lake would support such an option."

McPhee said the decision last winter to put the plan on hold was made after consulting with the municipality and hearing that it wasn't what the town wanted to pursue — though the town's mayor has since said that's not exactly true.

Staffing issues were another reason the project was halted last year, according to the minister.

Those reasons didn't seem to prevent the project from moving ahead this time.

"We will continue with the work being done to renovate some hospital rooms that have been identified for the purposes of this project," McPhee said.

"We hope that we will be able to pursue hiring the staff that will be necessary ... to provide the service through the long-term care pilot project.

"I look forward to that becoming a reality."

Yukon Health Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee. (Gabrielle Plonka/CBC)

McPhee said having long-term care beds available at the Watson Lake Hospital will provide another level of care to what is already being offered in the community through home care.

McPhee said her office is planning a scheduled visit to Watson Lake to speak with residents about the long-term care needs, and what the government will do about them.

Keeping family members close

Watson Lake resident Isabel Welsh has been an advocate for long-term care in the community for a while now. Her 22-year-old granddaughter Jennifer requires round-the-clock care.

When Welsh first heard that the hospital would have two long-term care beds available to local residents, she was excited. When she later learned the plan was put on hold, the excitement turned into a feeling of defeat.

Welsh said her home is completely set up to provide the proper care for Jennifer. But if things were to somehow change, having beds available in the local hospital would better than having Jennifer move five hours away to Whitehorse for long-term care.

"I'm getting older, and caring for Jennifer is getting a little bit more cumbersome," Welsh said. "I would look forward to having her [Jennifer] placed in a long-term care bed here, so that she could be looked after should anything happen to me.

"She'd be close to family. She doesn't understand being away from us. I think it would distress her so badly. I don't think she'd survive very long in Whitehorse."

Isabel Welsh, left, sits with her granddaughter Jennifer, centre, and her daughter-in-law Cynthia, right, in 2021. (Submitted by Isabel Welsh)

Welsh said the government's decision to move forward with the two long-term care beds in Watson Lake is a welcome one. However, she questions the necessity for a two-year community needs assessment, something McPhee has said was being done to determine what to do about long-term care in Watson Lake.

"They already know it's an aging community," Welsh said. "They already know that there's need for that type of facility. They're going to assess it for two years and decide, 'oh yeah, we need it,'" Welsh said.

"Or they could know that we need it now and ... get it over with, and build it."

She said it wouldn't just be Watson Lake residents who would benefit from more long-term care services in town. She said surrounding communities also have aging populations.

"I'd like to tell Tracy-Anne McPhee that she should be in the shoes of some of us people ... that are in charge of taking care of people," Welsh said.

"She should spend a week in our shoes and understand what we need."