Haines Junction lacks volunteers for ambulance service

Haines Junction, Yukon, is facing sporadic ambulance service this summer due to ashortage of volunteers.

Director of Yukon Emergency Medical Services MichaelMcKeagesays, of all the communities,HainesJunction has the hardest time recruiting ambulance volunteers.

He says the communityhas been characteristically without ambulance service many weekends in the summer and it's been that way for a couple of years.

Mayor MikeCrawshaysaysHainesJunction needs to eitheradjust to the lack of ambulance serviceor do something about it,

"We've kind of tapped out the volunteers that are willing to do that," he says.

Yukon EMS says it is considering providing the community with a couple ofmore radios which might help volunteers. It's also looking at how other communities recruit volunteers.

One serious injury during weekend cycling race

There was no ambulance servicethis past weekend in Haines Junction during theKluaneChilkatInternational Bike Relay.

Race directorMike Kramersays he wasn't aware there wouldn't be ambulance service until just days before the race.

Also, at least one injured participant in the bike race was told the health centre inHainesJunction was closed, but that was not the case.

"All of our nursing stations are open Monday to Friday 8-5 and our nurses are on call after hours for emergencies," saidPat Living, department of health and social services.

She says because of the large crowd, her department had a second nurse on calljust in case.

"There was obviously a bit of amiscommunicationabout what different parties understood was available," said Kramer.

Kramer says there's room for improvement when it comes to making sure everyone is on the same page.

One of the cyclists in the race, a man from Haines, Alaska, was seriously injuredwhen twobikes collided within the first 20 kilometres of the start of the race inHainesJunction.

Kramersays race organizers found out later thatthe injured cyclist wasmedevacedfromHaines, Alaskato Juneau, and then on to Seattle, Wash.