Nurse shortage prompts state of emergency in Pimicikamak Cree Nation

A northern Manitoba First Nation declared a state of emergency Friday afternoon, owing to a nursing shortage leaders in the community described as a crisis.

Pimicikamak Cree Nation — also known as Cross Lake — is supposed to have at least 13 nurses working in its nursing station, but as of Friday, there were only four.

That means the staff who are available are experiencing burnout and a lack of sleep, while some patients are being turned away as the facility operates on an emergencies-only basis, a health official said.

“For people that don’t know Cross Lake, where we’re located, we are an isolated community and we don’t have the other services,” said Helga Hamilton, the health director for the community, which is about 550 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

“If we were in the city, if we were in Steinbach, Winkler, you can go to a walk-in clinic, you can go to all these other places to seek health-care,” she said.

“We have just the nursing station here, that’s it. We don’t have any access to any other form of health care.”

Hamilton said the shortage of nurses is ongoing, not something that happened overnight. She said it’s perpetuated to a point where it’s critical. 

Hamilton also said while the centre is supposed to be staffed with at least 13 nurses, the actual number the community requires is closer to 24. Working at four nurses, some who are pulling 24-hour shifts, is “extremely dangerous,” she said. 

“We need to find nurses where we can, as quickly as we can,” she said. 

‘Health is a human right,’ Chief says 

Chief David Monias called on all levels of government Friday to help rectify the situation. 

“It is Canada’s responsibility, they have an … obligation to our people, to provide these services under the Canada Health Act, along with the province, that’s supposed to ensure that the pillars of the Canada  Act are upheld.” 

Monias also said the First Nation needs its nurses and doctors so community members can get necessary care. 

“Health is a human right, it’s a legal right, it’s a treaty right and we have to make sure these are fulfilled,” he said. 

Hamilton also said  physicians fall under the province’s jurisdiction while nurses fall under First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, which is part of Indigenous Services Canada. 

CBC News has reached out to Indigenous Services Canada and the provincial government for comment. 

Pimicikamak councillor Donnie McKay, who oversees the health portfolio there, said the community has always been short of nurses. He said there are 8,000 people there and to have only four nurses is not acceptable and can’t be tolerated.

He said nurses are reaching their breaking point. 

“I just spoke with a nurse yesterday and you can tell by the tone of her voice she’s near falling down, they’re exhausted,” he said. “We don’t blame the nurses and they’re overtired, they’re stressed out, they cannot keep up with the clients coming into the nursing station, things are bound to happen.”

Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson said the nurses in Cross Lake don’t belong to MNU, but are federally employed and belong to the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch. However, she said the situation is still concerning. 

“It’s actually really mirroring our provincial health-care system, everywhere you go in this province or this country, we are in a shortage,” she said. “It doesn’t matter whether they work for the Feds or if they work for the provinces, we’re in a desperate nursing shortage.” 

Community also keeping eye out for measles

Leadership in the First Nation is keeping an eye out for measles cases in the community too, Monias said. As of Friday the province said no cases have been confirmed in Manitoba. 

Monias said it’s a similar situation to the COVID-19 pandemic where nurses came together to make sure as many community members were vaccinated as possible. He said the community will need nurses to provide measles vaccines for those who may need it. 

“It does scare me that it will come to our community,” he said. “The scary part is that it’s airborne and that’s something we need to be very mindful about and very careful about.”