Yukoners in Beaver Creek, Destruction Bay and Burwash Landing can expect to see a new doctor travelling to their community health centres come June, as Haines Junction gains a resident physician.

The Department of Health and Social Services predicts this change will enhance the frequency of doctor visits to the Beaver Creek and Destruction Bay health centres.

However, it’s being protested by some community residents who don’t want to lose the visiting doctors with whom they’ve formed trusted relationships.

The department will consider covering individual medical travel, in certain circumstances, if Kluane-area residents choose to visit these doctors in Whitehorse when their community contracts end, according to spokesperson Pat Living.

“I really, super-like Larry,” Destruction Bay resident Marsha Flumerfelt told the Star last Thursday of her doctor, Larry Brehmer.

“I’m over 70, and I kind of thought Larry would be here to ease me through into my... getting the hell out of here.

“He looked at me after my last physical and said I’d probably outlive him,” she said with a laugh.

Flumerfelt is one of more than 120 Kluane constituents who signed a petition expressing dismay over the Yukon government’s decision not to renew the contracts of doctors Jake Morash and Brehmer.

It was tabled in the legislature last Wednesday by Wade Istchenko, the Yukon Party MLA for Kluane.

“We endured the loss of Dr. Henderson retiring in 2011. Now that we have established new doctor/patient relationships with these doctors who are familiar with our needs and ailments, the Yukon government has made the decision to remove these doctors who provide us with care and well-being,” the petition reads

It urges contract renewals for both doctors.

Whitehorse doctor Alison Freeman approached the department because she and her partner had decided to move to Haines Junction and she wanted to continue practising medicine, Living told the Star last Thursday.

“We’re not going to have contract docs plus a resident physician,” Living said.

“The fact that we will have a resident physician in Haines Junction and serving the north highway is actually really good news for the residents in all of those communities.”

Freeman’s schedule hasn’t been established yet. It’s expected that she will visit the Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek health centres more frequently than the two Whitehorse-based contract physicians currently do – two days in each community, every second week, Living said.

And because she’ll be based in Haines Junction, Kluane-area residents who can’t wait for her visit up the highway can drive to the Junction to see her, Living pointed out.

However, she added, “We do appreciate that people do develop a relationship with a physician, particularly if they’ve had them for a long time. We get that.

“Anybody’s who’s a resident in any of those communities, if they have established a relationship with one of the visiting docs, we’re not requiring them to drop that if they don’t want to. But they will have to drive in to Whitehorse to see them.”

The department would also consider medical travel coverage on a case-by-case basis for these individuals, Living said, as in some instances, maintaining a relationship with a particular doctor is necessary.

“It’s not a guarantee, but it is something that we would look at based on why that person is travelling in, and what the needs are.”

But concerns extend beyond just the physician changes.

In an April 3 letter to Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost, Istchenko requested she get departmental officials to set up a meeting with Beaver Creek, Burwash Landing and Destruction Bay residents to discuss Freeman’s new status in the Kluane region, and the concerns raised in the petition.

“I am unsure if all communities have benefited from a visit from departmental officials regarding changes to their health care and which residents may not have full disclosure on what is happening with the placement of the new doctor in the Kluane area.”

In an interview with the Star last Thursday morning, Istchenko said constituents are “deeply concerned” about a lack of consultation on these changes to their health care.

The doctor-patient relationship is such a significant one in people’s lives, particularly for elders and seniors, he noted.

“I think they need to be given the opportunity to be heard; it’s like they’re being told but not being heard.”

Flumerfelt, for one, isn’t happy with how she learned about the changes.

“I don’t like the way it was announced in the paper, ‘oh this is going to be our new doctor.’

“This new doctor Freeman announced that, ‘goodbye to all of her patients in Whitehorse, because she was going to be doing the north … highway run.’

“Other people are going, ‘oh well, you know, it’s just the way it’s done down south all the time.’ I don’t live down south.

“I’m sure this new doctor is fine; I just don’t like the way it was shoved down my throat.”

Freeman has been advertising her departure from her Whitehorse practice and her new role in the Kluane region for several months.

Living said departmental officials also met with the chiefs and councils of the White River and Kluane First Nations.

As well, they notified the village of Haines Junction and the community health centres, and hosted a community luncheon in Destruction Bay to share information about the doctor changes.

There’s also a plan to meet with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

The communities’ visiting physicians were told several months ago that their contracts were not going to be renewed, and would have been in a position to advise their patients of this, Living said.

Once Freeman begins working out of Haines Junction in June, the department plans to have her visit the communities alongside minister Frost to allow residents to meet the new doctor and discuss the changes.

“We appreciate a relationship with a physician is very personal, and Dr. Freeman is a new physician to probably most of these people,” Living said.

“So we recognize that they have to get to know her, they have to know what she’s about.”

Right now, the only communities with resident doctors are Dawson City, Watson Lake and Mayo, she noted.

“So this for us was hugely exciting.”