Homeless Inuk woman in Ottawa dying alone of AIDS

MONTREAL — Somewhere on the cold streets of downtown Ottawa, there’s a homeless Inuk woman called S. who is sick with AIDS, miles away from her family in Nunavut.
In a recent visit to Ottawa on a visit, her aunt ran into S. on the streets. “When I saw her, I couldn’t believe it,” the aunt said. “I just stared at her,” she said.
S.’s aunt wasn’t prepared for the sight of S.’s bloated stomach and poor colour, two symptoms of major liver failure.
She told her niece that it is time for her to come home to die. But bringing S. back to Nunavut has proven to be a difficult challenge.
The difficulty in carrying out this simple gesture of love shows how health care and social services often barely reaches those who need help the most.
A homeless, sick Inuk woman in Ottawa, like S., may simply choose to fall through the cracks and die alone.
Not long ago, S. checked herself out of the Ottawa General Hospital. She was receiving treatment there for PCP pneumonia.
This infection is common in people who are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a fatal auto-immune disease that destroys the body’s defense system.
Out on the streets once more, S. began to drink again — despite her badly damaged liver.
“She doesn’t realize how sick she is,” S.’s aunt said. And very likely S. doesn’t want to acknowledge the serious nature of her illness, either.
There is, in fact, a place that S. could go to in Ottawa, Oasis House, a residence for homeless women with AIDS.
But S. may feel ashamed of her condition, scared to get off the familiar streets, and she may be too afraid to go back to her home in Nunavut.
“The shame comes from fear, and the fear is justified,” said Todd Armstrong, an Ottawa AIDS activist.
Armstrong, a frequent speaker at Iqaluit schools on AIDS prevention, is now coordinating a new educational program on HIV and AIDS with Pauktuutit, the Inuit Women’s Association.
In the late 1980s Armstrong befriended Leetia Geetah, a woman with AIDS. Leetia, orginally from Iqaluit, was living in Ottawa. After her death in Iqaluit in 1992, Armstrong adopted her son, Audla.
Eleven years after Leetia was first diagnosed with the HIV virus, Armstrong wonders how much better the North is prepared to deal with the illness.
Nunavut still has no health protocol in place to smooth the return and further treatment of patients who are HIV positive, or who have developed AIDS.
Armstrong says that, besides S., at least five other Inuit living in the Ottawa region have already developed AIDS. They also may want to go back home to Nunavut someday.
“This is the first of what could be a bloody nightmare,” Armstrong said.
There’s no policy in place, either, to guarantee the repatriation of any terminally ill Inuit who want to go home to die.
“If you were dying, wouldn’t you want to be sure you could die at home?,” questioned Armstrong.
When a Nunavut resident dies in the South, the body is generally usually brought back to Nunavut for burial. On occasion, Nunavut Tunngavik and other organizations have paid the cost of doing this.
But in S.’s case, because she’s still alive, in order to get a paid trip home, she must firmly state that she wants to go, fill out forms to this effect, and then see whether social services in Ottawa and Nunavut approve the request.
A community health worker from Tungasuvinngat Inuit, the Inuit community centre in Ottawa, has reportedly attempted to reach S. to start the process of getting her home.
A Inuk street worker from the Aboriginal Women’s Support Centre has also contacted S.
But S. is hard to reach. She’s not likely to go to an office to fill out an application. And she isn’t even sure about what she wants to do. She’s confused, said her aunt.
“‘Don’t go home in a big bag’,” S.’s aunt urged her. “‘Spend some time with us’.”
As of Nunatsiaq News’ press-time this week, S. was still in Ottawa, still sick, panhandling for money, and sleeping on the streets.
Editor’s note: Some details have been changed to protect the identity of “S.” and her family.