Equipment for someone with ALS can cost upwards of $137,000 a patient.

That's not including the home care and medication that may also not be covered under the provincial or territorial health care system.

While the ALS Society of B.C. provides that equipment and assistance to 300 people in B.C. and the Yukon, it takes a lot of fund-raising to do so, and the Walk for ALS serves as that major fund-raising effort.

This year, the society will host its annual walk for the first time in the North. A Whitehorse walk is set for Sept. 27 along the five-kilometre Millennium Trail route.

"We have a patient currently living with ALS in Whitehorse and one of the concerns that we have ... is a lack of awareness about ALS," Wendy Magee, the society's Vancouver-based executive director, said in an interview Wednesday evening prior to the kick-off of the local walk announcement.

"So, unfortunately, when that happens, sometimes it takes a long time for someone to be diagnosed, and there's a lot of time that's lost.

"So we're here, basically, as a society to support (those) living with ALS and make people more aware of the disease and the services that are provided by the society and the need to support research."

Provincial organizations focus their attention on providing services to those living with the neuromuscular degenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

However, the national society ALS Canada focuses its effort on the research front.

About a dozen people turned up for the two-hour session last evening. They included Health and Social Services Minister Glenn Hart, Mayor Bev Buckway as well as Thalina Tchulokvsky, who is living with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Throughout her presentation, Magee pointed to the need for volunteers to organize the walk.

"We pride ourselves on the volunteer program," she said. The society allocates 81 cents from each dollar raised directly to its services.

She's one of six paid staff while volunteers oversee much of the work the society does.

The reason the society was formed, she said, is unless a person is on social assistance, his or her equipment and medical needs are not covered under B.C.'s provincial health care system.

Magee noted the territory is "doing better than B.C." after Hart cited the Yukon's chronic disease program during his speech to welcome the society.

However, she also said the territory doesn't provide things like communications devices to those living with ALS.

The territorial program, implemented under former premier Tony Penikett's NDP regime, funds prescription drugs and supplies or equipment deemed a medical requirement for a chronic disease or disability. Recipients pay an annual premium of $250.

It was through her own communications device that Tchulokovsky was able to inform others at the meeting of the naturopathic treatments she receives on a regular basis when asked.

The society also funds Tchulokovsky's trips to Vancouver to see specialists, it was noted during the meeting.

Although it's unknown how many people might turn up for the first ALS walk in the territory or how much money will be raised, Magee noted she's hopeful Yukoners will at least become more aware of the disease.

While Magee is hopeful there will be many taking part in the walk in September, last night, she was hoping to get volunteers to take on the organization of the walk.

"Each walk has its own personality," she said, stressing the importance of a local co-ordinator to give it that Whitehorse "personality".

Training will be provided to the local co-ordinator, with the society paying for local co-ordinators to attend a session in Toronto. There's also a need for other volunteers who can mark the course and do other jobs on the day of the walk.

Those interested in being part of it can contact Magee at 1-800-708-3228 ext. 222 or by e-mail at wendy.magee@alsbc.ca