A pregnant woman from Wekweeti and her common-law husband can't stay with their two young children over Christmas because the medical travel residence they've been placed in does not allow visitors beyond the building's foyer.
Andrea Goose, who is 35 weeks pregnant, and Bobby Boline were flown into Yellowknife with their kids, Charlie Rose and Marshall, both of whom are younger than three, around Dec. 5. Goose is not due to give birth until Jan. 15.
Dec. 14, 2017
Goose said the couple was medically evacuated from the community 195 kilometres north of Yellowknife six weeks before her due date because the doctor who examined her in Wekweeti believed she was going into premature labour.
A doctor has since told Goose she should stay in Yellowknife until the baby is born.
The GNWT placed the couple at the Vital Abel Boarding Home in Ndilo, which is free for eligible patients.
The boarding home is owned by the Det'on Cho Corporation – economic development arm of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation – and provides accommodations for patients from the communities on referral from a healthcare provider or the Stanton Territorial Hospital.
The boarding home allows visitors into the foyer – a small, carpeted area by the front desk with a few chairs and a fish tank – from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Boline told Yellowknifer the boarding home's visitor policy is preventing his family from spending quality time together, and is causing him and his pregnant partner significant stress.
The couple wants a safe and quiet space to be with their children, but can't afford any other accommodations.
They have asked to use a small TV room at the boarding home, but management won't allow it because the room is for patients only, and the home has a duty to protect its ill residents.
The children aren't allowed inside their parents' room either.
“We're not allowed to have a little privacy with our kids, to hug them, to kiss them, to give them naps when they need it,” said Boline.
He said spending long periods of time outside is difficult because the toddlers get tired and cranky.
Other activities around the city cost money, and the family is living on tight budget.
Yellowknifer obtained a recording of a conversation between Boline and Jan Ten-Wolde, manager of the boarding home for Det'on Cho.
In it, Ten-Wolde tells Boline that the home's policy does not allow visitors beyond the building's foyer for “liability and insurance” reasons.
There are no toys in the foyer, but the couple keeps toys in their room for when their children come to visit.
On the recording, Ten-Wolde is sympathetic and tells Boline she will reach out to the GNWT's medical travel department on his behalf.
“I'm a hundred per cent behind you emotionally,” she says, “but from a business point of view, we have rules here, and I can't break them.”
Boline pleads with Ten-Wolde to allow his children into the small TV room.
“I want to colour with my kids, I want them know that daddy's there. I'm not there right now,” he says.
“I love my kids... but this place is keeping us apart.”
Ten-Wolde declined to be interviewed for this story.
Boline said the other patients at the boarding home have complained about his young children running around, and about the couple feeding them food from the kitchen.
The couple doesn't like to spend long periods of time with their children at the boarding home, said Boline, because they know it bothers the other patients.
The children are currently staying with family members in Yellowknife, but Boline and Goose can't spend much time with them there because the house is already crowded.
“That house is packed. It's a small house and we won't be able to all fit in there,” he said, adding he and Goose put the children there because it's a safe home.
The couple worries though, that their kids' time in that house is running out.
“We have to be here about four or five weeks till the baby's born, and that's too long for those babysitters to take care of my kids,” said Boline.
The GNWT will cover the cost of travel for an expecting mother and one escort, and reimburse them up to $68 per person, per day for accommodations.
Young children are not eligible to be escorts.
“If individuals choose to bring their children it would be the responsibility of the family to pay for the transportation of the children and to find appropriate child care or accommodations where the entire family could stay,” David Maguire, a spokesperson for the NWT Health and Social Services Authority, stated in an email Thursday.
He said the department does not speak to specific patients' cases to ensure privacy.
Boline said the GNWT gave his family two options.
One is that he can opt out of being his partner's escort and take his kids back home. This would mean Goose spends Christmas and New Year's Eve alone.
Boline said he is Goose's support, and he won't leave her side.
“We have to be a family,” he said. “That wasn't an option that I was going to take.”
The second would be for the family to find their own accommodations, for which the GNWT would give them up to $136 per day ($68 for each Goose and Boline).
The problem with that option, said Boline, is that the government won't reimburse them until after the baby's born, and the couple can't afford to pay for a hotel up front.
“We barely even have funds to buy gifts for my kids,” said Boline.
The family has reached out to Monfwi MLA Jackson Lafferty and Minister of Health and Social Services Glen Abernethy.
Government officials told the couple they would look into their case but have yet to offer a solution.
“It's Christmas season,” said Boline. “I'm just trying to do the best I can just to keep (our kids) with us as much as possible.”