Busy emergency centre fills key role in La Loche

Community’s wellness efforts paying off as pandemic numbers are decreasing

Every morning, Martha Morin takes her familiar stroll into the commons area of the Dene High School in La Loche.

The athletics banners and awards remain, and Aboriginal artwork fills the halls — but students have been absent since the school’s closure in March. Now both Morin and the building have taken on new purposes: the school as La Loche’s emergency operation centre, and Morin as the centre’s director.

Instead of looking after 400 students, the former Northern Lights School Division’s wellness co-ordinator and her team look after 4,000 residents in La Loche and area. After working daily at the centre, her shifts sometimes as long as 16 hours, Morin said she knows they are doing things correctly when she sees the number of active COVID -19 cases in the area decrease.

“Even with the mass door-todoor testing, our numbers are flattening, which, I felt like, ‘OK, so we’re on the right track. All this hard work is paying off.’ ”

With the situation so fluid, there is always a new challenge for her and the team, she said. Their purpose: helping the community get through the pandemic.

Morin noted she is not alone. Isolation unit managers Farris Lemaigre and Candace Janvier, supply and distribution managers Stacy and Peggy Janvier, and homeless shelter co-ordinator Randy Janvier have been there for each step.

Bertina Janvier — the main housekeeper in charge of “cleaning up after COVID” — does much of the difficult work, Morin said.

Around 20 volunteers do everything from organizing donations to making deliveries and pickups for residents within a 60-kilometre radius around La Loche.

Problems caused by the pandemic are not going to be solved by a few people, Morin said.

“It’s absolutely amazing how many people are stepping up. After the initial fear of COVID and once they’re more understanding of how it works, it is possible to go out, if you’re safe, and do things. We’re very careful with our volunteers. We want them to be safe while they’re distributing stuff.”

Following the closures of Saskatchewan schools, Morin continued her work with the Northern Lights School Division from her home in La Loche. She was already working with the Saskatchewan

Health Authority on getting a medical clinic running within the school when the SHA recruited her to direct the operation centre starting April 19.

Since then, Morin has yet to take a day off — though she’s happy to report taking a Saturday afternoon nap during the Victoria Day long weekend.

A typical day during the pandemic includes answering voice mails and emails, meetings with staff and community leaders, and working on the floor with the rest of the team and volunteers. She’ll usually start around 8 a.m. If it’s slow, her work day might only be eight hours. Sometimes, she’ll still be there at midnight. Her phone dings and pings as calls and text messages for support flood in.

Every week brings a new challenge, she said.

Elders with medical concerns but without their own vehicle can’t get rides from someone outside their household, so they have no way of getting their prescriptions filled. Volunteers have been able to step up and make those pickups.

Many residents in the area have no access to potable water, so when stores closed, Morin and her team had to figure out how to distribute water safely and within public health guidelines.

The recent temporary closure of the liquor store in La Loche has meant a new managed alcohol program for the centre to support and manage.

The centre is in charge of the isolation camp and the homeless shelter, so Morin and her team had to figure out how to keep them running safely and effectively.

For every challenge, there are growing pains but also successes, Morin said. Every donation and every volunteer bring joy. The fact that the northern village, the Métis Nation and the First Nation communities in the La Loche area are banding together to fight the spread of COVID-19 is amazing to see, she said.

When the pandemic is over, Morin looks forward to visiting her two children and two grandchildren. After going so hard for so long, she also figures she will sleep for a day and then wonder what to do next. Until then, the emergency operations centre is open for anyone in need, she said.

“I’m inspired by the fact that I know my community is a strong, resilient community. They just need help at this time, and we can do it.” The Battlefords Regional News-optimist

LIAM RICHARDS FILES Martha Morin and members of her team have been putting in long hours. She says she’s amazed by how the community is stepping up to flatten the COVID-19 curve.