Cat Lake First Nation is launching the Pro Smart Clinic system for remote diagnosis.
CAT LAKE — Travelling to see a doctor isn’t easy for residents of this Treaty 9 community 180 kilometres northwest of Sioux Lookout.
There is no all-season road connection to the rest of Ontario, and flights in and out of Cat Lake frequently get cancelled due to weather conditions, Chief Russell Wesley said Wednesday in an interview.
In one particularly bad month, he said, Cat Lake people missed about 80 medical appointments because they couldn’t get to Sioux Lookout.
The situation often results in diagnoses that are fatally delayed, Wesley said while in Thunder Bay for the Neeganii-Iishiwan Gathering 2026.
“An average person gets a diagnosis some nine months later, and two weeks later they’re dead,” he said.
Those difficulties are being addressed by a transformative partnership with TytoCare, a U.S. company that uses technology to help doctors perform remote diagnoses and treatment.
Working with Indigenous Services Canada nursing staff, Cat Lake First Nation is preparing to launch TytoCare’s Pro Smart Clinic system at the community nursing station.
The Pro Smart Clinic system set up at the nursing station enables remote exams comparable to in-person visits for “your throat, your ears and even your lungs,” said Wesley.
“So all of that fast-tracks the assessment and diagnostic process.”
Clinicians can diagnose and treat more conditions remotely through this technology, reducing the need for trips to Sioux Lookout and elsewhere.
Physicians from Sioux Lookout Regional Physician Services will deliver care to Cat Lake members remotely, supported in the community by nurses.
Evaluation of the project is being led by experts at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute.
Joe Brennan, vice-president of TytoCare, is quoted in a news release as saying Cat Lake and regional organization Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which is backing the project, “are showing what is possible when technology supports local leadership.”
It’s “a new era of health care” for Cat Lake that opens up possibilities for improved health care and better patient outcomes in First Nations across the north, said Wesley.
“For a remote community without year-round road access,” he said, “this innovation does more than eliminate the burdens of medical travel — it makes high-quality local care a reality.
“We are building a foundation of wellness for future generations and demonstrating a sustainable health-care model for other Nishnawbe Aski Nation communities.”
As the project moves forward, the chief said, “we’re gathering data which we will present to the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority area chiefs, probably at the next fall assembly.”
Wesley said he hopes the project will “chart a path in a new direction in health services delivery, because right now what we have is contributing to a huge death rate.”
“This project really re-imagines remote health care in remote communities, breaking down the geographic barriers to moving from a primary care model to a diagnostic care model,” said Tammy Lehtinen, Cat Lake’s lead consultant on health transformation.
“It brings the doctor’s office directly into the heart of Cat Lake, allowing patients to take control and empower (themselves) on their own health care journey.”
