Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) representatives met with the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) Jan. 18 to discuss reopening the Leaf Rapids Health Centre, which has been closed since late December due to insufficient staff.
“It was a positive meeting which included an acknowledgement that work needs to be carried out to transform the health service delivery model in Leaf Rapids to a primary care model in the long term,” said MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee in a press release. “”We expect an announcement from the Northern Regional Health Authority about the reopening to be made public soon. The citizens of Leaf Rapids have the right to access health care services.”
The health centre was temporarily shut down due to lack of staff in the last week of December and originally scheduled to reopen Jan. 10. Instead, the NRHA issued a notice Jan. 8 that it would remain closed indefinitely. Town residents who need urgent medical care must either go to Lynn Lake, two-and-a-half hours away, or Thompson, four hours by car.
Currently, a clinic assistant is available in Leaf Rapids from Monday to Friday to arrange telehealth virtual appointments or phone appointments with Thompson physicians, which are available three mornings a week.
Settee said the chief administrative officer for the Town of Leaf Rapids, who is not one of its 580 residents, should declare a state of emergency. The community doesn’t currently have a mayor or council.
Because the closure of the health centre has left Leaf Rapids residents unable to obtain medical grade masks and rapid antigen tests for COVID-19, MKO is attempting to source these items on an urgent basis and have a staff member deliver them to the community as the post office is currently closed and there is no bus service.
A letter Settee wrote to Health Minister Audrey Gordon on Jan. 12 has not yet been answered or acknowledged, MKO says.
“I am once again urging our minister of health to meet with my office to discuss and plan next steps in support of the health and well-being of our Northern Manitoba citizens,” Settee said.
