Whitehorse Daily Star

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Cynthia Blackjack

Government reviewing inquest recommendations

The Yukon government is studying the jury recommendations stemming from the recent inquest into the death of Cynthia Blackjack.

By Whitehorse Star on February 4, 2020

The Yukon government is studying the jury recommendations stemming from the recent inquest into the death of Cynthia Blackjack.

Her 2013 death was unanimously ruled “an accident” last Friday afternoon. That triggered eight recommendations to improve community health services and brought the two-week inquest to a close.

Blackjack died on Nov. 7, 2013, while being medevaced from Carmacks to Whitehorse.

“The inquest was important for our territory and our government, and we appreciate the work of all those involved in the inquest,” Pat Living, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Services, said in an emailed statement to the Star Monday afternoon.

“We are now in the process of carefully reviewing the decision and recommendations of the jury and will be in a position to speak about next steps once we have completed that review.”

The inquest heard concerns around how the Carmacks health centre handled Blackjack and her medical problems, but staff testified they did everything they could to assist her each time she visited.

The jury made eight recommendations:

“1. Prioritize the hiring of a Nurse-Practitioner in Carmacks;

“2. Develop a framework addressing patients with no advocates by having a Community Health Representative at the Carmacks Health Centre. This role should be carried out by a local First Nation;

“3. Dedicated medical transportation to Whitehorse for Carmacks residents who are not sick enough for medevac but who are deemed to require a level of medical care that Whitehorse General Hospital can provide;

“4. Review of terminologies used in charting. Take steps to eliminate the use of stigmatizing language;

“5. Fully staff a wellness hub in Carmacks that focuses on alcohol and drug dependency. The hub should address issues of social, mental, psychological health and child development;

“6. Community education on health and dental care, available resources and how to access available services and funding;

“7. Develop a curriculum on cultural safety specific to Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation;

“8. Investigate the possibility of lighting at community landing strips to extend flight hours for medevac.”

A timeline was not set out for any of the recommendations.

After the jury reported and the inquest ended last Friday, Teresa Blackjack told reporters she was unhappy with how some of the testimony had portrayed her daughter.

Comments (6)

Up 9 Down 7

I. Kant-Bleevette on Feb 5, 2020 at 10:37 pm

Thanks Groucho for the recommendation regarding the 2010 Beaton Report on Acutely Intoxicated Persons. It was a challenging read not for the complexity of the content but for its syntactical dilemmas, word usage and grammar challenges more generally. These concerns offered up opportunities to reframe WTF moments and questions of sanity into more existential pontification on the meaning of life.

Up 26 Down 6

JC on Feb 5, 2020 at 4:37 pm

Miles, what if there was another emergency during those 3+ hours. Such as a small child or baby that needed to be medevaced. This girl was not considered at the time to be a medevac emergency. There were plenty of people there that could have taken her to Whitehorse - even some of the complainants. Why didn't they?

Up 12 Down 14

Groucho d'North on Feb 5, 2020 at 10:57 am

In addition to the recomendations from this inquest, I suggest the government also consider the recomendations made in the 2010 Beaton and Allen report from their Task Force on Acutely Intoxicated Persons at Risk. Perhaps if government had implemented some of the earlier suggestions, the newer ones would not be needed. Read it here: http://www.hss.gov.yk.ca/pdf/taskforcefinalreport2010.pdf

Up 55 Down 7

John on Feb 5, 2020 at 10:22 am

Everybody agrees this is a sad time for family and friends. Why are there no recommendations stating Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation self government spend some of their money on social services for their citizens and heck maybe even share in the medical costs and support services, even better yet, take responsibility for social issues in your community rather than blame nurses, doctors, paramedics , yg. Take responsibility.

Up 27 Down 10

drum on Feb 4, 2020 at 6:52 pm

Recommendation Number 1.
Prioritize the hiring of a Nurse Practitioner in Carmacks. Is that saying the caring staff already there are no good. They are devoted to the people they serve.
I recommend that all nursing staff in the future in the communities be First Nation. Then there can be no complaints.

Up 12 Down 38

Miles Epanhauser on Feb 4, 2020 at 4:11 pm

If the ambulance had taken her to Whitehorse it would been tied up for something like three hours. So be it. There obviously was an issue with the risk assessment at the Carmacks clinic.

I wish that the ambulance had taken her to Whitehorse.

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