Why no medical escorts for English elders in Nunavut?

Louisa Pootoolik wrote this letter to the Government of Nunavut’s health minister, Paul Okalik, seeking redress for a policy she says discriminates against frail English-speaking elders.

She sent the letter March 11, 2015 but got no response, so she is sharing it with Nunatsiaq News.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter in response to a new policy within the health department for escort services for unilingual elders.

I am delighted to hear that the unilingual elders will have escorts from now on. However, I am not so pleased on the part where English-speaking elders who need assistance as well are ignored.

My aunt, who was in a wheelchair with heart problems, refused to go get treated because she was not allowed an escort. She was over 70 years old, frail, wracked with breathing problems and still she was not allowed an escort because she knew how to speak English.

She has now passed on. She could have had a chance but now, because she understood and spoke English, and was refused an escort, she did not want to travel alone in a wheelchair, which she could not move herself because she was so weak.

The battery for her heart was leaking and they wanted to send her to Ottawa to replace it, but she never got to go because she was refused an escort.

I think you should revise the policies you have in order to serve all peoples. You think a frail English-speaking elder is physically stronger than a unilingual one?

Please… do something about it. Do not play God. Doctors have duties to save the patient’s life as much as possible, you should do the same.

In memory of Kasinga Naulaq.

Louisa Pootoolik
Ottawa

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