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Wrigley to remain without a nurse

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, March 4, 2010

PEHDZEH KI/WRIGLEY - Wrigley will not be getting a full-time nurse this year.

Late last month Nahendeh MLA Kevin Menicoche announced that there was a possibility Wrigley would get one if not two full-time nursing positions this year. At the time Menicoche said the funds needed to finance the positions were included in the legislative assembly's draft budget.

When contacted by the Deh Cho Drum on March 1, Menicoche said there are actually no plans for a nurse, and his earlier statements were based on outdated information.

Menicoche said in December he was told there was a proposal to include the funds for two nurses for Wrigley in the Department of Health and Social Services' budget. Menicoche incorrectly assumed the item was included in the draft budget.

Although there will not be a nurse in the near future, Menicoche said he received a commitment from Sandy Lee, the Minister of Health and Social Services, to increase services in Wrigley when he pressed the matter in the legislative assembly.

Menicoche has been lobbying to bring a full-time nurse back to the community since he was first elected in 2003.

"The community has always asked for the return of a nurse to Wrigley," he said.

The community has been without a full-time nurse since approximately 1998, when the nurse at that time was threatened and left out of fear for personal safety. Menicoche said he will continue to press for a nursing position for the community, possibly for 2011.

Chief Tim Lennie of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation confirmed the community still wants a nurse.

"We've pretty well exhausted ourselves as chiefs over the years trying to get a nurse in this community," he said.

Not having a nurse is a safety concern for residents, he said. It's also expensive for people who have to drive or fly to Fort Simpson for health services.

The government has an obligation to provide the services in the community, Lennie said.

Kathy Tsetso, the chief executive officer of Dehcho Health and Social Services, said medical travel is paid for by the government if the patient has a referral from Wrigley's community health worker. Tsetso said she was surprised when she heard news that Wrigley was supposedly getting a nurse.

"My question was wow, where did that come from, when did we get that funding," she said.

There are no new funds for a nurse in the 2010-11 budget, which is still being finalized.

"We have to recognize that this government overall is strapped," said Tsetso.

The only funding increase Dehcho Health and Social Services has received is to meet the salary and wages as set out in the collective agreement. The organization is, however, considering the possibility of running a pilot project to increase service delivery options in all of the smaller Deh Cho communities, including Wrigley, Trout Lake, Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie River.

The project, if it's launched, would involve giving additional nursing and community health worker hours to the communities and evaluating whether that increase supports wellness in the communities. Findings from the project could determine if changes will be made in the 2011-12 budget, Tsetso said.

For now, Wrigley is receiving more health services the other small Deh Cho communities. A community health nurse visits Wrigley three days a month and a physician visits one day every month. Trout Lake, Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie River get a one day visit per month by both a nurse and a doctor.

Wrigley also has a community health representative, a community health worker and a home support worker based in the community, although the home support worker position is currently vacant. Dehcho Health and Social Services has also made a commitment to place a nurse in the community during the freeze-up and break-up periods when road access to Fort Simpson is cut. The organization does its best to fill the position if a nurse is available, said Tsetso.

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