Lack of rural health workers means life or death for Yukon communities: mayor

Town of Faro Mayor Jack Bowers worries that a shortage of health workers in rural Yukon communities like Faro not only leaves community members in fight-or-flight mode; it could mean life or death for individuals and communities.

“It could make the difference between surviving an incident or not,” he said.

“If this were to continue in any community, it, you know, ultimately, would have an impact on the population. There would be those that would be forced to leave, and so a sense of loss of health-care services could mean, ultimately, the death of a community.”

Bowers spoke with the News by phone on Aug. 19 about how the Faro Health Centre is temporarily closed for about a month. The temporary closure is due to a lack of staff, with no nurse to staff the centre. Additionally, there’s no primary care paramedic around from Friday afternoon of the Discovery Day long weekend until Tuesday afternoon. 

Faro isn’t alone; Ross River and Pelly Crossing have also recently experienced health centre closures and service reductions due to staffing shortages. While the Yukon’s community nursing vacancy rate has gone up and down in recent years, it remains back on the rise at 27 per cent, as reported by the News.

Bowers has been receiving “all kinds of calls and emails” from concerned community members.

“That’s added hardship upon hardship here for the community,” he said.

“It’s not a pleasant situation that we’re in, and there’s not much we can do about it.”

Bowers indicated that while this situation is unacceptable in any case, the aging community of Faro has higher health needs than other Yukon communities, which puts his community members in a more vulnerable situation in comparison. Census data via Statistics Canada from 2021 suggests that more than one-fifth of the people living in Faro are aged 65 and up. The average age of about 42 years old is older than the territory-wide average, based on census data.

The Faro Health Centre serves the town of about 600 (not including another couple hundred staying at out-of-town camps), according to Bowers. As of March 2025, the Yukon Bureau of Statistics estimates closer to 432 people live in the town, which is located off the Robert Campbell Highway about 356 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse. The town experienced a boom and bust following the opening and closing of a mine but is described nowadays as having a more stable population on the Yukon government’s website.

Bowers spoke with the local supervisor of emergency medical services (commonly known as EMS) for his community ahead of his call with the News. Bowers heard it was a busy long weekend with an “all nighter” on Saturday.

“Since there is no PCP (primary care paramedic) in the community, when an ambulance or EMS call is received, that person that’s then transported to Ross River and then assessed by the nurse in that community, and then the call is made for a medevac or whatever is required,” Bowers said. He added that Ross River is an hour drive from Faro.

“We did have one medevac occur from the community (Faro) without having to do that, but our staff are bearing the load.”

That particular medevac, without having the patient travel to another health centre, was an exception that was made in arrangement with the nurse in Ross River and the doctor on call at the Whitehorse General Hospital in the Yukon capital, per Bowers.

Bowers said he was notified by the Yukon government manager in charge of rural nursing in advance of each recent occasion involving no nurse and no primary care paramedic in his community. Posters were provided so the municipality could advise community members as best as possible at local places, on social media and on the town’s website.

But not everyone has a computer or access to the internet, which means they might not find out until they try contacting the nursing station, Bowers added.

Nigel Allan, who works in communications for the Yukon Department of Health and Social Services, said by email on Aug. 15 that the community nursing program “always” informs community members including municipal governments, RCMP and First Nations when there are closures and service reductions at health centres. 

He said two volunteer emergency medical responders, who are trained to treat patients and respond to calls, were on call for the weekend. However, there was no coverage from Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. to Aug. 19 at 2 p.m. 

EMS continues to take and respond to calls in communities across the Yukon including Faro, Allan said. He added that EMS will determine how to move forward with each case and use the most appropriate resources which may involve EMS from other communities, aircraft transport from Whitehorse and coordinating with flight physicians.

Faro’s mayor gets it: the Yukon is facing a health worker shortage that is being felt across the nation.

“We all understand that there’s a health-care crisis throughout Canada,” Bowers said. 

“But we, particularly, are affected. They are understaffed. The workload is, in some cases, doubling up on existing staff. There is a high level of burnout among the health-care professionals, nurses and others, as well.”

Bowers wonders what other alternatives can be offered to get and keep health professionals. He gave the benefit of the doubt to the Yukon government staff responsible for assigning nursing staff, as territorial health officials juggle a myriad of ways to address the issue as part of the health human resources strategy.

“But it isn’t acceptable. There has to be a fix, and we’re simply saying to our government: please find a way to solve this problem and bring the staffing levels up to where they need to be,” Bowers said.

“We’re powerless, other than using our voice to express our concern.”

Yukon NDP Leader Kate White argued that notifying the public about a lack of paramedics and other health workers shouldn’t be left to municipalities.

“The nurses and the staff in rural health centres, they deserve to be able to have breaks and to be able to step away from their positions without feeling like their communities will be in crisis because of it,” White told the News by phone on Aug. 15.

The Yukon government should ensure those positions are backfilled, according to White.

“Closures like this have been a pattern under the Liberals, and that’s a real concern,” she said. The Yukon NDP has had confidence-and-supply deals in place with the Yukon Liberal Party since 2021.

When asked to compare health centre closures in the past under Yukon Liberal and Yukon Party terms in government, White said: “It’s a lot harder to go back 14 years to remember what it was like, but I can tell you that things are definitely escalating.”

A Yukon government-branded notice that the Town of Faro shared on Facebook noted the Faro Health Centre won’t have a nurse in the community from Aug. 6 at 8 a.m. to Sept. 5 at 4:30 p.m. The town also posted that no primary care paramedic will be in town from Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. until Aug. 19 at 2 p.m.

People seeking health care in Faro are advised to contact 911 in emergencies and the emergency dispatch will coordinate resources as needed, according to the town’s post.

The notice adds that 811 is available 24/7 for those seeking advice and support.

The pre-booked doctor’s clinic will go ahead as planned and appointments in allied care will continue during this period at the Faro Health Centre.

Contact Dana Hatherly at [email protected]