'There's no dignity': Watson Lakers petition territory for long-term care home

Isabel Welsh has been taking care of her granddaughter Jennifersince the day she was born in Watson Lake, Yukon, 20 years ago.

In the first days of her life, Jennifer was diagnosed with meningitis, an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. The disease left her immobileand with a very limited vocabulary.

The closest long-term care facilities are in Whitehorse, 500 kilometres away so her family members take turns feeding her with a tube and pumping mucus out of her lungs to keep her healthy.

"If she went somewhere [in Whitehorse], she wouldn't live a month. For her to be left alone, she couldn't press a distress button,"Welsh told CBCNews.

"If she ever started choking, they'd never hear her."

Welsh is one of hundreds of people in the Yukon's third-largest community that are asking the territorial government to build a long-term care facility, so families like hers wouldn't have to be separated to get the care they need.

'You're breaking up families'

The issue isn't new to Watson Lake. A group called the Sign Post Seniors, named after Watson Lake's memorable tourist attraction, started talking about building an extended care facility in the 1990s, but it never came to fruition.

The issue is gaining more traction now, after a few years of inaction, because the population of Watson Lake is getting older, according to resident Bob Close.

"The issue of everyone aging is a big one," he said.

Roughly 25 per cent of Watson Lake's 1,500 residents are over 60, according to a2021 population reportfrom the Yukon Bureau of Statistics. The number rises to 35 per cent if you include those who are in their mid-50s, nearing the age of retirement.

Watson Lake has a seniors centre, but it does not offer the same kind of care that long-term care facilities provide, Close said.

"It makes me feel awful actually, when you're breaking up families ... it just creates a huge hardship," Close said.

"There's no dignity I guess. They just sit there in Whitehorse, and hope your loved ones show up."

500 people sign petition to the Legislature

When CBCNews was in Watson Lake in early October, a notice of petition hung in most major businesses and community centres, asking Tracy Anne McPhee, Yukon's health minister,to meet with community members to learn about the need for a long-term care facility.

Patti McLeod, the MLA for Watson Lake, presented the petition to the Legislature earlier this week, with 527 signatures, which, she notes, is half the voting population of the town.

"I've heard concerns from people that are trying to manage care for family members at home," McLeod said. "It's costly, and it's hard for families to do this."

During question period at the Yukon Legislature this week, McLeod pressedMcPhee to commit to visit the community.

McPhee said "nobody is ignoring Watson Lake" and that she would be "pleased" to meet with community members.

'No expectation that they're going to do anything'

If the minister does come to town, Welsh said she would extend an invitation to her house so she could see first hand what goes into Jennifer's daily care.

For now, Welsh and her family will keep doing what they're doing to provide for Jennifer as they will after the attention from the petition dies down.

"We're frustrated in Watson Lake, because we keep being ignored," Welsh said.

"[The petition] might be ignored too ... and if they come to listen, there's no expectation that they're going to do anything."