BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
Three-year-old Christensen Hughie is covered from head to toe in red, ugly, itchy-looking sores. The skin on her face is white and flaky, and she has festering scabs on her legs, forearms and ears.
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Aurelia Hughie, 21, and her daughter Christensen are being cared for by volunteers from the Canadian Red Cross and the N?Swakamok Native Friendship Centre. Christensen, 3, is covered in red sores caused by the water on the James Bay reserve. More photos>> |
Her young mom, Aurelia Hughie, 21, says her daughter has looked this way for over a year because strong chlorine used to combat E. coli in their town?s water supply is making her scabies worse.
The family was evacuated by plane to Sudbury from Kashechewan Wednesday night along with about 75 other people from their community to get treatment for various chronic skin conditions.
Six people were taken immediately to the emergency department at St. Joseph?s Health Centre, where they were treated and released.
The evacuees are being housed at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda, and cared for by volunteers from the Canadian Red Cross and the N?Swakamok Native Friendship Centre.
Another 200 people from Kashechewan are expected in Sudbury over the next few days.
?My daughter is scratching and itching all the time. She sometimes cries at night saying that she itches. I feel sad when I see my daughter. She?s had this since she was two,? says Aurelia.
The young woman and her daughter were not among those who visited the hospital Wednesday night. She was waiting for a doctor who was supposed to come to the shelter Thursday.
Aurelia and Christensen were both able to have a clean, hot shower at the shelter. The mother was startled to realize they didn?t smell like chlorine or have flaky skin after washing.
Conditions are pretty bad in Kashechewan, says Aurelia.
The local school has been closed for over a week because of the E. coli problems. A lack of housing means that as many as 19 people sometimes live in the same house, she says.
What?s happening to the people of Kashechewan shouldn?t happen to anyone, says John Wesley, who moved into the shelter with some of his grandchildren.
?The children have rashes, and some of them have been burnt by the water...The general conditions in my community are pretty poor. The school has been closed for over a week because of untreated water,? he says.
?The water treatment plant has a lot of chlorine in it. They say the water is good, but I don?t trust the water anymore. They say the water plant is beyond repair right now.?
When Roland Peltier heard about the evacuation, he and other staff members at the N?Swakamok Native Friendship Centre scrambled to make sure the visitors felt welcome.
They are providing Cree translation and child care services for the evacuees.
?We did it for the (Vietnam) Boat People in the early 1980s, so we can do it for our own people,? says the outreach street patrol worker.
?I think they should open up the old Genevra House because there are enough beds there. I?m sure the evacuees could cook and clean for themselves, because they are used to looking after each other as a community.?
Red Cross worker Ted Giannini, who just got back from helping flood victims in New Orleans a month ago, was also at the Azilda centre Thursday morning.
?There?s a big gap between where they are right now and where they came from. They?re a bit nervous because some have never left their community before,? he says.
?We?re just trying to make them as comfortable as possible...Whether it?s in Louisiana or here, our job is looking after the needs of the people.?
There?s no word on whether any of the evacuees? pets are coming to Sudbury. However, the owner of Wenrick Kennels in Azilda says he?d be more than willing to take them in.
?We have a capacity to take approximately 20 animals at this time, dogs and cats only. We would do birds in an emergency situation,? says Richard Paquette.
