Health

Featured, Health, News, Politics October 23, 2024

Going off the deep end arguing for a new all-season pool for Behchokǫ̀

Tłı̨chǫ residents shouldn't have to drive to Yellowknife to have healthy family recreation, says MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong


A swimming pool is needed to serve the four Tłı̨chǫ communities to provide family recreation and employment opportunities, says Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong. She floated several proposals to two different cabinet ministers today in the NWT Assembly, but their answers left her feeling high and dry. “I can tell…

Featured, Health, News, Transportation October 22, 2024

Campus of Care move created ‘lasting chaos, inefficiency and burnout,’ says MLA

Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan says 'significant' number of Primary Care health-care practitioners have left their jobs


The Campus of Care model that saw Primary Care services combined with the $350-million Stanton Territorial Hospital was given a failing grade by Yellowknife North MLA Shauna Morgan today in the NWT Assembly. The moving of integrated care teams from Yellowknife Primary Care Centre and Frame Lake Community Health Clinic,…

Featured, Health, Housing, News, Transportation October 11, 2024

Youth sobering centre and street outreach program needed in Yellowknife, says group

HomeBase YK says there is a gap for the 'crisis our youth are facing' when experiencing homelessness, addiction or both


An organization working with vulnerable youth in Yellowknife says there is a need for a Safe Sobering Site for youth, especially as winter approaches. HomeBase YK says youth under the age of 19 experiencing homelessness, addiction or both do not have any type of street outreach program or sobering space…

Featured, Health, News October 8, 2024

Dental patients in Beaufort Delta advised to get tested for Hepatitis and HIV

‘The risk of exposure to infections is very low,’ says the Chief Public Health Office


Anyone who received dental care in five health-care centres in the Beaufort Delta region between March and April are being advised to get tested for infections, says the Chief Public Health Office (CPHO). The CPHO stated that dental equipment in these facilities was not properly cleaned, disinfected and sterilized as…

Featured, Health, News, Police October 4, 2024

Inquest rules Tuk woman accidentally died of alcohol poisoning while in RCMP custody

Sylvia Panaktalok, 54, was found extremely intoxicated on the steps of a residence on a summer night in 2021


A coroner’s inquest has found a Tuktoyaktuk woman accidentally died of alcohol poisoning while in RCMP custody in 2021. The jury at the hearing in Inuvik this week also made 11 recommendations for the RCMP, territorial government and NGOs. Shortly before 10 p.m. on July 31, 2021, a call was…

Featured, Health, News September 23, 2024

Prepare for poisonings, overdoses with influx of contaminated illegal drugs, says Dr. Kami Kandola

'Drug dealers prey on those seeking to belong, and those needing relief from pain,' the Chief Public Health Officer tells wellness symposium


The illicit drug crisis in the Northwest Territories has only worsened since the pandemic, when there was an increase in physical and emotional trauma combined with boredom, some of the key underlying causes of addiction. NWT Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Kami Kandola has also found the crisis led to…

Culture, Featured, Health, News, Wildfires September 23, 2024

New trauma informed healing lodge for the Northwest Territories delayed until 2026

Dene Wellness Warrirors co-owner Roy Erasmus tells 15th Annual Voices for Peace Symposium counsellors are still being trained


The damage done by the devastating wildfires of 2023 continues to impact the health of the Northwest Territories, delaying the opening of a trauma-informed healing centre in the South Slave region. Not only is the former treatment centre on the Kátł’odeeche First Nation being used by the band after its…

Featured, Health, News, Police August 30, 2024

Dangerous experimental drug seizure prompts public health warning

Para-flurofentanyl was detected in recent drug bust enroute to Yellowknife, prompting Chief Public Health Officer's to raise alarm


A potentially lethal synthetic drug created for research purposes in the 1960s but was never intended for human use has been seized in the NWT, prompting a public health warning. Para-flurofentanyl was detected in a recent drug seizure enroute to Yellowknife, prompting the Chief Public Health Officer to issue a…

Community, Featured, Health, News August 29, 2024

Boil water advisory for Sambaa K’e lifted

A precautionary advisory was issued on July 15 due to a mechanical failure in the water treatment system


The boil water advisory for the community of Sambaa K’e has been lifted. The advisory was issued by the community government and the Chief Environmental Health Officer on July 15. It was due to a critical mechanical failure in the community water treatment system that caused muddy water. “There have…