Northerners are resilient, and we are used to harsh conditions. We get to live in one of the most beautiful and unique places in the country, indeed in the world, but that means some things tend to be a bit more challenging.
Accessing health care shouldn't be one of the hardships we must endure, and there's nothing resilient - or acceptable - about what's happening to the Northwest Territories' public health care system right now.
The territorial government's recent walking back of a plan for "virtual doctors" to work in the Stanton Territorial Hospital emergency room shows how far our system has fallen into decline.
And let's be clear: the fact that this measure is being considered, even as a backup, sends a concerning message about the future of health care in the North and how workers and patients are valued within this system. It's a warning sign; another symptom of the chronic issues afflicting NWT's health care system daily.
We all know the problems go far beyond one emergency room. The system is unravelling before our eyes.
Workers are under-resourced, under constant pressure, and left to absorb patient frustration when the system continuously fails. Many are doing everything they can to hold things together - our nurses, lab technicians, social workers, care providers - but they are at a breaking point. When parts of our system aren't supported to thrive, people suffer.
In Yellowknife, it is becoming harder to see a primary care provider. Something as simple as getting your blood drawn has become a difficult appointment to secure, and some of the few programs offered in the NWT are now redirected to Alberta. If this is the situation in Yellowknife, we know that the struggles in the communities are far greater.
Staff and patients are waiting longer for diagnostics and test results. A delayed X-ray or CT scan isn't just inconvenient. It can mean life-altering consequences if serious health issues go undetected.
Health care workers are stuck in a place where they are expected to do more with less. Doing this work while being under resourced drives more and more health care workers out of the NWT each year, pushing them away from the profession they love.
Yet, our territorial government persistently downplays the crisis we live through, with politicians and leadership insisting everything is fine, even as frontline workers burn out, and patients lose faith, are left waiting, or are turned away.
The reality is that we are catching up with years of underfunding and short-term thinking, and a refusal to invest in long-lasting, public solutions.
Instead of strategy and support, workers and families get silence or spin while the care we receive deteriorates in real time. Back-of-the-napkin scribbles are passed off as solutions, and patchwork stopgaps are implemented instead of strategies.
It's time for Northerners to demand accountability and ask our leaders what it's going to take. How many more of our fellow Northerners need to suffer, waiting in sickness, pain, or uncertainty?
How bad do things need to get before our government will acknowledge the crisis we all know is happening and invest in real solutions?
It doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't. Workers, patients, and Northern communities deserve so much better.
Josee-Anne Spirito is the regional executive vice-president of PSAC North.
