Chesterfield Inlet group home to undergo transformation

KIRSTEN MURPHY

The 70-year-old Pimakslirvik group home in Chesterfield Inlet will become a modern extended-care facility for severely disabled Nunavummiut once the Government of Nunavut approves the $4.25 million needed to build a new facility.

The legislative assembly passed Nunavut’s 2003-04 capital budget this week. The financial plan awaits third and final reading in the new year.

Health Minister Ed Picco said the new facility will be built adjacent to an existing property overlooking Hudson Bay. The fate of the old structure is up to the Catholic diocese, which owns the building.

The new facility will be bigger, better equipped and able to house more residents.

“We’re hoping to repatriate some of the patients we have in the South. We’re hoping to increase the capacity and we’re working that out in the architectural design of the building,” Picco said.

The sturdy but aging 10-bed facility — once known as St. Theresa’s — was built as a hospital in 1931. The Catholic diocese and the Grey Nuns ran the facility until 2001 when, as a cost-saving measure, they asked the department of health and social services to take over.

Pimakslirvik residents are from all over Nunavut.

Construction on the new building is scheduled for the spring. The doors won’t open until early 2004.

Elna Eidsivik, one of two nurse managers at Pimakslirvik, said the old building is safe but outdated.

“By the standards of today you need walk-in bathrooms with wheelchair accessibility and new modern lifts where you can lift [residents] from one chair to another. We just don’t have the room for that sort of thing here, because it’s an old building and it was never designed for that. There’s no way we can put that sort of equipment into this building,” she said.

Eidsivik said staff are eager for a new facility. And while the building may be seen as merely a hospice for the disabled, Eidsivik said Pimakslirvik means a lot to its long-term residents, ranging in age from eight months to 40 years.

“Their life is here,” she said.

Last year the GN invested $40,000 in minor upgrades such as new fuel storage equipment, Picco said. Renovating the building to bring it up to code was not a feasible option.

Nanulik MLA James Arvaluk has often spoke in the legislative assembly about the need for a new building — one with ramps and a new electrical system to accommodate specialized lifts.

“The home is very important to a lot of people, especially the patients. The patients see the workers as their mothers and fathers,” Arvaluk said in a members’ statement last year.

Pimakslirvik’s 30-person staff of mostly Inuit support workers, cleaners and cooks makes the facility the largest employer in the non-decentralized community.

The building’s future was not always so bright.

Two years ago, the GN considered closing the home when the Catholic Church made its decision to withdraw. Baker Lake, where a similar home exists, was identified as a potential new site.

However, the health department has since decided to finance the multi-million dollar complex, which costs about $1 million annually to run.

“Everything seems to have come together. [Pimakslirvik] is the largest employer in the community. It was essential we keep the service there. Plus, we’re doing this in partnership with Chesterfield Inlet Development Corporation, which is a locally owned business,” Picco said.

The development corporation was awarded the building contract this year. Construction is scheduled to begin next summer, with the arrival of supplies on the July sealift.