Faro, Yukon without primary care paramedic this weekend
In a post on its Facebook page, the Town of Faro said there will be no primary care paramedic in the community from Aug. 15 to Aug 19.
The news comes during a temporary closure of the town's health centre because there are no nurses to staff it. The closure began Aug. 6 and is expected to last until Sept. 5.
"Community members should call 911 for any emergencies and EMS [emergency medical service] dispatch will coordinate resources as needed," the post said.
During the health centre closure, a primary care paramedic was meant to provide emergency coverage. Now, local volunteers might be the first to respond to emergencies over the weekend.
"There will be two volunteer emergency medical responders on call, except [from] between August 18 at 8 p.m. [to] August 19 at 2 p.m.," said Nigel Allan with Yukon Health and Social Services.
Allan says EMS will continue to respond to 911 calls in Faro and will dispatch the appropriate responders.
"So if that's an EMS team from a neighbouring community or deploy fixed-wing [plane] or helicopter transport from Whitehorse, they'll make that determination as they normally would in any situation for a community."
'We're in the wilderness without health care'
Douglas Tutty, a retired nurse and a volunteer firefighter who has lived in Faro since 2018, said primary care paramedics are responsible for assessing patients and determining if they require a medevac.
Now, without a primary car paramedic, he said those assessments can't be made in the community.
He said EMS will have take someone elsewhere to assess whether they need a medevac, and the closest community where that can happen is in Ross River, an hour and 15 minutes away.
Tutty is concerned about the town's capacity to respond to a medical emergency this weekend.
"We're in the wilderness and without health care."
CBC News has reached out to the mayor of Faro for comment. As of publishing time, he had not done an interview.
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