Sudbury geriatricians were surprised to discover on a recent trip that there is a 108-year-old woman living on the James Bay Coast.

Dr. Janet McElhaney was part of a team that went to several coastal communities to examine the health care services that are in place for seniors.

There she met 108-year-old Margaret Wabano in Moose Factory.

"I'm not sure what the secret was to her health," she said. "But this is really remarkable in these kinds of communities how she got to be that age."

McElhaney said it's unusual for seniors in that community reach even 65 years of age.

She said the province is incorporating the infromation the team got from the trip into its provincial strategy for seniors care.

Few of the communities have full-time physicians, McElhaney said. Because hospital care isn't immediately accessible, people frequently ignore bothersome symptoms with the hope they will go away.

"I just couldn't imagine, being an older person, travelling for hours on a bus, with no escort — sometimes with limited mobility," McElhaney said.

"And then getting there, appear to understand what the doctor was telling them because they didn't want to appear ... stupid in all of these interactions. Often they don't have the nerve to stand up for themselves and ask questions."