In the days before she was found dead, Valerie Rusk was in tears. Her family was sick and she didn't know what to.

It's Jan. 24, 2012, and she's called her family's doctor's office for help.

Everyone — herself, her husband, Brad, her kids, Rebekah and Gabe, and their friend, Donald McNamee, who lives at the home — are sick with flu-like symptoms.

When Shellie Young spoke to Valerie that day, the office assistant at Dr. Shoshtari's Horwood's Mall Medical Clinic told the worried mother that she would rearrange the schedule and make room to see everyone the next day.

When the family didn't show up for that appointment, Young called the home at 1606 Centennial St. and was told by McNamee that the family was sleeping.

Let them sleep, she said; the office would reschedule the appointment.

But the appointment was never rescheduled.

All five were found dead in the house on Jan. 29, 2012 of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning.

A coroner's inquest examining the circumstances around their deaths began Monday with testimony from a number of friends and professionals who interacted with the victims in the days before their deaths.

Young told the jury Valerie said she had "never been so sick in her life.”

She testified that Valerie told her Rebekah had been taken to Whitehorse General Hospital's emergency ward earlier that day but left after they were told the wait would be six hours.

It is clear from testimony so far that no one in the household was feeling well for some time before they died.

Both Gabe, 13, and Rebekah, 11 missed school that week. Val even called the school for her eighth-grade son, concerned he would miss his final exams that week, said Kim Bicudo, the office administrator at Vanier Catholic Secondary School.

She was told not to worry about it. Those could all be made up.

On Jan. 22, Valerie herself went to the hospital and was seen in the emergency room by Dr. Gunnar Tirschmann.

The doctor testified Valerie came to the hospital with "very generalized, very non-specific, very common types of symptoms,” including a headache and nausea.

Tirschmann told the jury Valerie did not show many of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. She was not having any difficulty speaking. Her skin was pink and her blood flow was good.

Her symptoms were common, especially during flu season, he said.

She was given Gravol and discharged.

It is not clear if the hospital would have been able to confirm carbon monoxide poisoning even if it had been suspected.

Prior to the deaths of the Rusk family and McNamee, the hospital did not have the machine necessary to test blood for carbon monoxide, Tirschmann said.

The test is more complicated than an average blood test because it requires blood from an artery as opposed to a vein near the top of the skin.

Tirschmann testified that even if blood had been taken from Valerie, he's not sure if it could have been sent Outside for testing in time. The test needs to be done quickly to prevent the carbon monoxide from dissipating out of the blood, he said.

Since the five people died, the hospital has bought the appropriate machine, though it is not used as part of standard screening.

A patient would have to be showing symptoms or have some other indication of carbon monoxide poisoning, Tirschmann said.

As it was, the five were in their rented house when their bodies were found on Jan. 29, 2012.

Ed Lockington kicked in the basement door that day after he went over to check on his friends, who he knew had been sick.

"The entire neighbourhood had the flu, so it was hard to recognize the difference,” Lockington told the jury.

He smelled something "acrid,” and when he kicked in the door, he could barely see through the thick gas.

Both Brad and Val were in the living room, he in his recliner and her on the floor.

Firefighters would discover the three other bodies in bedrooms around the house.

Firefighter Scott Macfarlane testified his handheld carbon monoxide detector began going off at "high alert” as soon as he crossed the threshold into the house.

"It went off instantly,” he said. "It didn't go from the low alarm to the high alarm; it went right to the high.”

On the stairs to the basement, the firefighters stepped on leaves. Every last one had fallen off a nearby house plant.

Virtually all the windows were caked with ice, said firefighter Paul Taylor. The glass had to be broken to properly ventilate the home.

Morley Mackay, then a captain of the Whitehorse Fire Department, described finding soot on curtains and other items around the house.

It was Mackay who discovered a four- to six-inch flame coming out of the inspection hole on the furnace. He shut that off with a master switch.

The jury has been told that the home had both a wood-burning stove and an oil-burning heating system.

Monday wrapped up with what is likely to be the first of much testimony about the chimney.

John Whitney testified he installed a metal liner in the chimney about 20 years ago.

During the testimony, territorial judge John Faulkner, who is acting as the coroner in this case, pointed out there was no evidence of the metal found in the chimney.

Whitney said the linings can disintegrate over time, but added he would have expected to find some evidence of the liner.

Permits and inspections from the city were approved for the work, but retired inspector Stan Dick said he never actually saw the liner and had to take the contractor's word for it.

The house was demolished later in 2012.

When the week-long inquest wraps up on Friday, the six jury members will be asked to answer some basic questions like when and where the family and their friend died.

They will also be given the option of making recommendations for preventing similar deaths.

Coroner's juries are not responsible for finding fault and their recommendations are not legally binding.