Nunavik man with broken leg says patient services “forgot” him

During his recent stay in Montreal, where he underwent surgery for a broken leg, Paulusie Nappaaluk of Kangiqsujuaq says he was forgotten and ignored by the Northern Quebec Module, which looks after patient services in Montreal. (PHOTO COURTESY OF P. NAPPAALUK)

Paulusie Nappaaluk, 27, who lives in the Nunavik community of Kangiqsujuaq, wants an apology from the Nunavik Regional Board of Health and Social Services and the Northern Quebec Module, which looks after Nunavik patient services in Montreal.

From the beginning of his recent trip to Montreal for medical treatment right to the end, Nappaaluk says he was “forgotten.”

After Nappaaluk broke his leg May 29, his wife was allowed to follow him to Tulattavik hospital in Kuujjuaaq, where went for an X-ray.

“But, when I had to go to Montreal, she was not allowed to follow me, according to Tulattavik policy, which states only minors and elders may have an escort, he said.

“I was not allowed to have an escort, so I had to do it on my own, and in pain,” Nappaaluk told Nunatsiaq News.

Then, to make it worse, when Nappaaluk arrived at Montreal’s Trudeau airport, there was nobody from patient services to meet him.

“Nobody from them bothered to pick me up at the airport. I had to make it on my own. As a patient, I was expecting someone to greet me at the airport with a wheelchair,” he said. “After two hours of waiting, I had no choice but to order my own ambulance by myself, since nobody was going to do it for me. I finally made it to Montreal’s General Hospital, and they took care of me.”

But that was just the start of his continuing neglect, tells Nappaaluk.

For more than a week, patient services never saw him, “never called me, never acknowledged that I was there.”

Everything was difficult with his broken leg, with no escort there to assist him, he said. “Going to the bathroom was a challenge, lifting my luggage, dressing myself, all those simple things that an able person does regularly was a challenge.”

After a week in the hospital, during which he underwent surgery, Nappaaluk was released on crutches, with a cast supported by titanium rods on his leg.

That’s when the Northern Quebec Module finally called him.

“They told me that I was going to be staying at the YMCA, which houses hospital patients from the north. Since they could not give me an escort to stay with me and to help me out, I decided instead of staying there, that I would stay at a friends’ place since they would be able to help me around with every day stuff.”

Nappaaluk then told the nurse who had called him that he was doing fine.

“I told her that I’m no longer in deep pain, so she told me that she would be able to fix my reservations, and give me a ticket back home, which she had not done,” Nappaaluk said.

When he arrived to fly back home earlier this week, no ticket was waiting for him at the First Air counter at Trudeau airport.

“I had to call that nurse who had approved a ticket for me. She told me that since I did not call her the day before to tell her how I’m doing, she did not fix my reservations. First Air agents had to make calls to Kuujjuaq to make sure that I would get on that flight, and so I did.”

Nappaaluk is now back home in Kangiqsujuaq, walking around on crutches.

Despite some pain, he’s back at work for the Northern Village of Kanigiqsujuaq as a crime prevention officer.

“I thank those good Samaritans who pushed me around in a wheelchair, fed me, clothed me, and took care of my every need,” he said.

Nappaaluk also wants to thank the First Air agents “who were patient enough to look after me when there was nobody else” — and his wife.

He’ll be wearing his cast for six weeks — after that, he’ll travel back to Montreal for another round of medical appointments.

Before then, he’d like to received a letter of apology “from those who neglected me while I was ‘their’ patient.”

“If I weren’t smart and relentless, I think I would still be under ‘their’ care,” Nappaaluk said.