Despite a collective agreement between the territorial government and the Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU) to hire additional primary health care nurses for Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek, the positions remain unfilled.

This means the single full-time nurse in each community continues to work without another nurse by his or her side on a permanent basis.

That’s a problem protested by NDP petitions tabled in the legislature Thursday that received more than 500 signatures.

The petitions were tabled by Yukon NDP MLA Kate White.

She argued that “it is unsafe for nurses to work alone in Yukon community health centres,” and urged the government to fully staff these centres so nurses wouldn’t have to do so.

‘Never alone’

Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost told the house that Yukon nurses are actually “never alone,” because community health centres employ “administration staff that are in during these peak periods of time during the day.”

She also pointed out that emergency responders work in every community and are available to provide support.

Steve Geick, the YEU’s president, dismissed Frost’s argument outside of the legislature yesterday.

“In some cases, a nurse may be working in a health centre alone and there may be a clerk available. Some of the clerks are really good, but I would not want to bet my life on a clerk being able to resuscitate me.”

A collective agreement between the previous Yukon Party government and the YEU effective Jan. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2018 outlined several provisions designed to improve working conditions for nurses in the territory.

These included the addition of a primary health care nurse each in Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek during the busy summer months, and one shared between the two communities for the winter.

These positions were not filled in 2016, and Frost told reporters that permanent hires still have not been made.

The government has taken every effort to do so as mandated by the collective agreement, she said, but recruitment for these positions is challenging.

They took alternative measures to provide the nurses in Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek some relief, according to Frost, including bringing in auxiliary, on-call nurses, and making sure they had weekends off.

Deters nurses

According to Geick, it’s these very working conditions that deter nurses from wanting to work in Yukon communities.

“It’s working alone. It’s working with substandard equipment. It’s all of those things,” he said.

“If you’re the only nurse working in a community and it’s Friday night at five o’clock and you’re set to go home and a motor vehicle accident happens ... you may be there until Saturday morning.

“You finally get a medivac, or do what you need to do to get that patient out of the community, and something else happens. And then something else happens.

“And the next thing you know it’s Monday morning, and you’ve had two or three hours sleep, maybe, and then you’re expected to start your shift on Monday morning.

“Nurses do what they need to do for their patients.”

The YEU pulled out of all collaborative practice with the Yukon government in April.

“We thought we were collaborating. It’s usually a two-way street, but no,” he said.

Frost pointed out that the government has hired 21 new on-call and part-time nurses in the last year.

“We need more nurses and we are reaching out, so that’s a demonstration that we’re doing things right. We just need to push up the game if there’s still shortages.”