Cross Lake calling for inquiry into First Nations health care following death of band member
CBC News | Posted: December 11, 2015 5:57 PM | Last Updated: December 11, 2015
Tyson McKay, 32, died of a heart attack on June 25 following a 12-minute visit to Cross Lake's nursing station
Manitoba's Cross Lake Band is asking the provincial and federal governments to "wake up" following the death of one of their members.
Tyson McKay was 32 years old when he visited a Health Canada-operated nursing station in his community on June 23, 2015. There, he complained of chest pains.
Staff sent him home with an antacid and Tylenol, saying it was heartburn.
Less than two days later, on June 25, he collapsed of a heart attack and died.
"In the case of the late Tyson McKay, a strong, healthy young man passed on because of the inadequate services run by the nursing station," Chief Cathy Merrick said at a press conference on Friday.
"These are nurses coming into our communities that do not know our communities, that do not know the health of our people or the lack of health of our people. We want the province … and the federal government to wake up and make sure they provide these services to us as [they would] any Manitoban or Canadian in this good country."
Merrick is calling for an inquiry into premature and preventable deaths of indigenous people in Manitoba, and says a nursing station alone is not enough to adequately care for Cross Lake's community of 8,400 people.
"Things have to change. The attitude from the province, from the federal government has to change in terms of the health of First Nations people …" she said.
"Stop passing the buck."
For McKay's mother, Violet McKay, the death of her son was senseless, the result of disregard and oversight, and only too routine in what Councillor Donnie McKay calls the "back-alley medicine" of Cross Lake.
"There's no need of this loss of my son's life," she said on Friday.
"They should have provided an EKG and blood plasma testing. This was negligence to my son's life and to our people, our native people across Canada."
One way to make sense of McKay's death is for it to mark the beginning of change in health care for First Nations people, said McKay's brother, Kelvin McKay.
"My mom and I don't want Tyson to just be another statistic but we want him to be the catalyst that fixes the problems of health care in northern Manitoba," he said.