4 Nunavut elders come home to Rankin Inlet
First group of residents arrive at new long-term care facility, health minister says
Nunavut elders are beginning to move into the territory’s new long-term care centre in Rankin Inlet. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian)
Some elders are starting to come home to Nunavut from their stays in Ottawa, says Health Minister John Main.
The first group of elders who will live at the new 24-bed Rankin Inlet long-term care facility arrived back in the territory this week.
“As of today, this group of elders are receiving advanced elder care here in our territory,” Main said, speaking in Inuktitut in the legislature Thursday.
“The Kivalliq facility in Rankin Inlet will be their new home.”
Four elders have arrived so far and more are on their way. Main said they will come north on three or four medevac flights per week.
“A state-of-the-art facility — the first of its kind in Nunavut — awaits them with [a] culturally enriching, safe and home-like environment,” he said.
“We know that the elders who will live there want to hear Inuktitut being spoken. They want Inuit values and culture reflected in the activities and in the food they are served.”
The 24-bed facility was completed in January following several delays and opened in May.
Its 22 permanent-care beds will be occupied by July, said Charmaine Deogracias, a Health Department spokesperson. The other two beds are for temporary respite care.
Main said the process of hiring and training people to work in the facility is ongoing.
The $59.4-million project is one of three long-term care facilities the government plans to build in the territory by 2030 as part of its Aging with Dignity strategy.
Long-term care facility projects are also planned for Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay.
Best news!
I wonder how they chose who gets relocated from Ottawa to Rankin? We have to fundraise thousands of dollars to visit our family member in Ottawa Embassy West from Cambridge Bay. Ottawa is on the other side of the country and we have absolutely no family in that part of the world so our family member only gets a visit once a year.