The Yukon is facing similar health care challenges to the rest of Canada, agree the presidents of two medical associations.

Alex Poole, the new president of the Yukon Medical Association (YMA), and Laurent Marcoux, the president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), expressed the observation Friday afternoon.

The two doctors spoke with reporters following the YMA’s annual general meeting on Friday, highlighting the need for long-term care beds and to meet the needs of the aging population.

Working in acute care, Poole said, he sees the stress on the system.

Many patients are left waiting for lengthy periods in acute care for a long-term care bed to open up.

As he noted, the situation with long-term care beds “overflows” into other aspects of the health care system as beds are taken up in the hospital.

Marcoux pointed out that one in five Canadians are over the age of 65, with life expectancy also lengthening.

With an older population, Marcoux explained, there’s more chronic disease and health issues.

Knowing that, he said, it’s important for the health care community to react to the issue and deal with it.

As Poole said: “We all have to pitch in.”

He said he’s excited to do that in his new role as YMA president, taking over from Alison Freeman. He said he wants to work to meet the health care needs of all Yukoners.

One of his first responsibilities will be drafting a letter that will be signed by the executive of the YMA.

It will urge the Yukon government to provide support and land for the proposed Vimy Housing Society supportive housing project for seniors.

Land at Fifth Avenue and Rogers Street had been selected, but after it was found to be contaminated, that site was taken off the table.

Poole said the project would be a positive step forward in enabling many seniors to continue to live more independently, thus saving the territory health care costs for seniors who would otherwise be unable to live on their own.

Poole also noted the ongoing issue with fentanyl abuse in the territory, with a total of at lease five fentanyl-related deaths and many emergencies.

He said he wants to continue working on addressing that as he moves into his new role as YMA president.

Marcoux, meanwhile, emphasized to the Yukon medical community the national organization’s support for physicians.

“When we support physicians, we support patients,” he said.

Of particular concern throughout the country is the impact upcoming changes to business taxes will have on physicians.

The CMA is hearing from members how the changes will put more pressure on physicians.

“We must make our voices heard,” Marcoux said. He highlighted the CMA’s work to take that message to federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

That said, Marcoux also emphasized there’s “no shortage of issues for us to tackle,” from seniors’ care to the impact of legislation decriminalizing cannabis and so on.

The medical community is innovative, and it’s important to use that moving forward on a variety of issues.

“We are all innovative,” he said.

Marcoux, a Quebec resident, has worked in the field of medicine for more than 40 years.

After graduating from the Université Laval in 1973, he worked in many different areas of medicine.

In 1976, he founded the Centre médical Saint-Denis on the south shore of Montreal, a rural primary and secondary care clinic where he practiced local medicine. Marcoux managed the centre for 32 years.

Much of the YMA’s AGM is closed to the media.