Nunavut’s health department eyes new mental health facility in Iqaluit

Nunavut’s health minister Tagak Curley says his department will look at transforming a former patient boarding home in Iqaluit into a new mental health facility. (FILE PHOTO)

The Government of Nunavut is looking at renovating the former 45-bed Tammaativvik patient residence in Iqaluit into a territorial mental health facility. (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavut’s health and social services department plans to spend $10.5 million on capital projects during the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Among its capital requests — which were approved Oct. 26 by the Nunavut legislature’s committee of the whole, $100,000 to put towards the opening of a larger mental health facility in Iqaluit.

Health minister Tagak Curley said his department will use that money to start “the functional program planning phase of a new territorial mental health facility.”

The department’s plans for the new facility involve transforming a vacant 45-bed building near Inuksuk High School.

Until last year, the building housed the Tammaativvik patient boarding home. Before that, it was used as the Ukkivik student residence for high school students from smaller Baffin communities who were studying in Iqaluit.

The new mental health facility would replace the much smaller Akausisarvik mental health facility in Iqaluit, which can only take about a dozen residents.

“The old Akausisarvik is not a suitable location anymore to have our mental health patients,” deputy minister Peter Ma said in the committee of the whole’s Oct. 26 session.

Akausisarvik, which opened in 2002, is designed to offer care for Nunavummiut who suffer from serious or moderate mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, manic depression or personality disorders.

The health department wants to move ahead with replacing the current Akausisarvik mental health facility in 2012-13.

But the health department’s previous plans for a territorial addictions treatment facility were not mentioned anywhere in its capital plan for 2013-17.

Nattilik MLA Jeannie Ugyuk, who chairs the standing committee, said its members “would further appreciate an update on the government’s plans to open a Nunavut-based addictions treatment facility.”

The government’s Tamapta Action Plan committed to the “opening of a culturally-relevant substance-abuse treatment facility,” she said.

“However, it does not appear on the 2013-17 Five-Year Capital Plan,” Ugyuk said.

The GN said earlier this year that it would open Nunavut’s first addiction treatment centres by 2013 as part of its 2011-12 business plan for the health and social services department.

This plan said that one of the department’s priorities would be the development of treatment programs and services.

In January, the GN sent out request for proposals for the centres, which were to treat both adults and youth “who have significant mental health [problems] and/or addictions.” These requests were later put on hold.

Curley confirmed last June in the legislature that plans to open two addictions treatment and healing centres in Nunavut would be delayed.

Curley said Oct. 26 that his department may restart the planning process early in 2012.

Curley also hinted that his department is “hoping that there will be more than one option,” such as “mobile services that we should be providing to Nunavutmiut…for communities that don’t have a home-based addiction centre.”

Other capital projects for 2012-13 in the department’s $10.5 million request included the second-year, $9-million construction costs for the replacement of the Repulse Bay health centre, which should be completed by March 2013.

Taloyoak’s health centre is slated for replacement in 2013-14 and Arctic Bay’s health centre for 2014-15.

“When I went this summer in July for my annual checkup, I was kind of gagging at the smell of sewage that was in there and wondered how our staff actually work with those kinds of conditions,” said Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott about the Arctic Bay health centre.

“Our health infrastructure is aging,” Curley acknowledged, noting that 67 per cent of Nunavut’s health centres are 20 years old or older.

“Until we are in a fiscal situation that enables us to move forward with replacing some of these infrastructure, we must ensure that the funds are
allocated for upkeep, repairs, and renovations to keep our buildings in good condition,” Curley said.

For that, he asked for $700,000 to carry out repairs, such as boiler replacement, security system installations, and replacing failing or out-of-date medical equipment and vehicles “with a history of frequent and high repair costs.”

The capital budget included no money earmarked for morgues — although deputy health minister Ma said health centre designs may incorporate morgues in the future.

That didn’t satisfy Amittuq MLA Louis Tapardjuk, also the deputy chair of the committee of the whole — his constituents in Hall Beach have lobbied for a morgue in their community.

“When deceased people are housed in the community freezer, it’s not very scenic to see a deceased person in the community freezer surrounded by food, which is why they need a morgue,” Tapardjuk said. “I will continue to push for this capital project, although I probably won’t be included in this project, but I’m expectant that during this winter session that they will be asking for a supplementary allocation for that community morgue in Hall Beach.”