A man from Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, who broke his spine while trying to access a building with his wheelchair is still recovering from the catastrophic injuries he suffered, and it is unclear what support he will find in his community now facing even more. mobility challenges.
In November, Richard Subgut was on his way to a ramp to get his check for income when his jacket got stuck in control of his wheelchair. He fell down some stairs, fractured his skull and paralyzed him.
He has been in a hospital bed ever since.
“I’m still the same. I can move a little, but not much,” he said in an interview in April from his bed at the Kivalliq Health Center. “I’m getting better, day by day, slowly.”
The only relief for Richard Subgut, who longs to be out of the hospital bed and in the fresh air, is when the Rankin Inlet fire department takes him to the ambulance for a walk. (Submitted by Verna Kowtak)
Although Subgut already knew how difficult it was to move around his community in a wheelchair before his accident, neither he nor his sister, Verna Kowtak, know what future he will face if he cannot use one. , including what access it has. You will have or need medical services, and how much you can move.
Subgut is currently in Winnipeg for physical rehabilitation, but Kowtak wants him to move into his home when he returns. This means that they will have to install a ramp outside and turn their living room into a bedroom with a special bed for him.
She will be full of people – she already lives with five of her children, and with her grandchildren, there are a dozen people living in her four-bedroom house – but she talked about it with her husband and he agreed.
Verna Kowtak descends the ramp outside the building where her brother, Richard Subgut, fell from his wheelchair. (April Hudson / CBC)
“My brother and I grew up together. We had two more brothers, but they died, so now it’s me and me,” he said. “I’m glad he’ll come live with me.”
“I hope and pray that he can move again.”
Lack of data
In 2015, the Nunavut government published a report who claimed that most severely disabled Nunavummiut depend on their families to care for them, and those who do not end up on the waiting list for long-term residential care are increasingly being sent to the hospital. General Qikiqtani of Iqaluit or out of territory.
A report commissioned by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. in 2020 it examined the territory’s infrastructure gap.
The findings are sad for Inuit with physical disabilities: those living in underserved communities sometimes have to choose to leave their homes and families and move to regional centers. Some are forced to become residents of one of the provinces, as are the elderly who are forced to leave the territory to receive care, the situation of which has led to demonstrations and petitions.
Those who remain, as Subgut’s story shows, face enormous challenges in mobility and access to support that some in southern Canada take for granted, although little is known about the scale of the problem.
The sun is shining on the Kivalliq Health Center, where Subgut has spent long stretches, at Rankin Inlet on April 29th. (April Hudson / CBC)
The Nunavut government was unable to provide CBC with information on how many Nunavummiut must leave the territory for physical rehabilitation after a disabling injury, how many Nunavummiut receive disability support, how much the government spends on such support, or whether has plans to increase accessibility.
Data from other sources are scarce and unreliable. The latest Canadian Disability Survey, conducted by Statistics Canada in 2018, showed 4,300 nunavummiut over the age of 15. identify as disabled – 18 percent of respondents in the territory. The vast majority of these cited a disability related to pain, flexibility, or mobility.
But some results in this report, such as the severity of the disability, included a cautionary note or was considered too unreliable to be published; and Statistics Canada has pointed this out struggle to get enough Nunavummiut to respond to some polls.
“A large number of people are leaving”
“We don’t have data on how many people have a disability,” said Nicole Diakite, executive director of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makkinasuaqtiit Society.
Society workers are heading to Nunavut’s 25 communities by next summer to hear from people with disabilities and their carers.
For those remaining in the territory, Diakite said it is difficult for many Nunavummiut with severe mobility problems to access buildings without proper ramps or lifts.
Nicole Diakite is the Executive Director of the Nunavummi Disabilities Makinasuaqtiit Society. (Submitted by Nicole Diakite)
In Nunavut, there are no sidewalks, few paved roads and a lack of accessible transportation, which makes getting to the local airport an ordeal for many.
There is also a lack of funding and resources to make buildings accessible and safe, Diakite said.
“We have seen a large number of individuals leave because of different disabilities, whether physical, intellectual or other barriers they may experience,” he said.
He said that when his organization conducts community surveys, the main concerns are ramps, snow removal and accessible transportation.
A long recovery
Subgut spent days in an emergency and four months in a Winnipeg hospital after his accident, away from family and friends. When he returned to Rankin Inlet, he only had to spend two more months in the community hospital before being transferred to Winnipeg to begin rehabilitation.
Physically, he may not use a walker again, although he and his family hope that he will eventually be able to sit in a wheelchair.
Mentally, the ordeal has taken its toll.
Medication helps keep you in the mood, but it doesn’t help much with pain. He is slowly recovering some of the memory he lost after his accident.
He spends his days watching movies on an old TV and wants to go back to the outdoors.
“I don’t know what to do anymore, or who to talk to,” he said.
Rankin Inlet Village. (Kate Kyle / CBC)
At the moment, he is in the hospital bed and dreams of the simple activities he will do if he never gets in a wheelchair again.
It will be driven along the rugged roads of Rankin Inlet, through the potholes that mark Kivalliq Street to the North Store.
Inside is a small Tim Hortons, where you can have a coffee.
Outside, you can sit down and take a cigarette, greeting the people you know with a smile.
Her sister, Kowtak, has managed to find a little break for her brother, a way to get him out of the hospital, at least for a while, albeit infrequently.
This solution came in the form of the Rankin Inlet Fire Department, which loaded Subgut into his ambulance to take a walk around the city in the fresh air he so longed for.
Happy moments for Richard Subgut and Verna Kowtak as Rankin Inlet Fire Department transports Subgut to his ambulance. (Submitted by Verna Kowtak)
Fire Chief Mark Wyatt said his department has fired Subgut several times.
“You can see his face light up every time we do that,” he said.
His hope is that someday, Subgut will be able to use a wheelchair again, heading to the northern store for a coffee every day, smiling and greeting the people he knows.
“He was in that wheelchair during the snowstorms, in anything; he would move,” Wyatt said.
“The people here are pretty tough.”