Coral Harbour elder returns home following fundraising drive
Family of former NTI VP Raymond Ningeocheak raised $35K to bring him home from Ottawa
Raymond Ningeocheak greeting people as arrives in Coral Harbour. Ningeocheak was in long-term care in Ottawa for over a year. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Netser)
Raymond Ningeocheak has arrived home.
After spending over a year at Embassy West Senior Living in Ottawa for what was supposed to be a temporary stay, Ningeocheak left Ottawa on a medevac flight Monday morning and touched down in Coral Harbour at approximately 1:30 p.m. central time.
Now, the 80-year old Ningeocheak, who was a longtime second vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., will be able to eat the seal meat he has craved while in Ottawa.
“He’s happy to be going home,” said Sarah Netser, Ningeocheak’s daughter.
Ningeocheak originally went to Embassy West for physiotherapy on his legs to help him walk again. But while he was in the south, he was diagnosed with dementia, Netser said. That diagnosis contributed to Ningeocheak not getting medical clearance to return home, she said.
The Government of Nunavut said it didn’t have enough resources to care for Ningeocheak in Coral Harbour, said Anne Crawford, a lawyer working on behalf of the family.
Ningeocheak’s family say he felt isolated and had little contact with those who spoke his language, Inuktitut, during his stay in Ottawa, Crawford said.
Making matters worse, Ningeocheak’s wife passed away while he was in Ottawa, she said.
Ningeocheak’s family provided the GN with a list of Coral Harbour residents experienced in elder care who are willing to provide 24/7 care for him, but the government was not receptive to the family’s plan, Crawford said.
In a statement to Nunatsiaq News, Nunavut Health Minister John Main said the GN is unable to pay or assist residents who are not medically cleared.
Main said the GN is unable to comment on individual cases. But for cases of dementia, there is not enough in-territory care that is capable of providing the specialized needs of dementia patients, he said.
He also said the GN is continuing to try and add long-term care options in the territory, such as the facility planned in Rankin Inlet.
Embassy West did not respond to questions from Nunatsiaq News by the time of publication.
Since Ningeocheak was not medically cleared to leave Embassy West Senior Living, his family had to sign a waiver to accept they will be responsible to take care of him and pay the costs of his medevac.
Ningeocheak’s family raised the $35,000 needed to pay for the flight by starting a GoFundMe campaign in late-January.
Ningeocheak’s family believes the assessment of his health was not fair, Crawford said. With their permission, she shared psychological assessments of Ningeocheak with Nunatsiaq News.
In an initial assessment on June 12, 2021, a psychologist with Embassy West found that Ningeocheak’s mental capabilities were declining and he could be uncooperative. It was done through written translations of Inuktitut because Ningeocheak’s earpiece for hearing was not working, Crawford said.
But an assessment done Feb. 10 of this year by an Inuktitut speaking and university educated teacher who knows Ningeocheak did not find him to be uncooperative or to have mental decline.
“They’re medicalizing the symptoms of isolation these elders are facing,” Crawford said.
Ningeocheak’s condition should improve now that he is back in his community and surrounded by family, Netser said.
Crawford referred to a Facebook post that showed Ningeocheak in good spirits on the flight.
Netser said the family has acquired a hospital bed for Ningeocheak but they will need a special lift for the bed so that he can move from the bed to his wheelchair. She said that the lift will cost $2,500 and the family will look to fundraise for it.
This is the power of community and looking out for each other. Community did this, not the GN. Glad the community got together and did this fundraising ❤️ .
This is proof that we don’t need the government for everything , we only need each other.
In Alaska, Inuit do not get much help from the government, and it cost about $20,000 for giving birth, so you see a lot of inuit getting together and fundraising. This is how community works.
This isn’t the feel good story you think it is.
This is a horrible story about the failure to treat elders properly. Good people having to scramble and scrounge for human decency. It feels good, recipients aren’t grateful. But it shouldn’t be necessary.
And just because they have worse healthcare in Alaska doesn’t mean Nunavut’s elders aren’t suffering.
This is proof we don’t need government for everything? Ugh. Enough. An elder’s care (or anyone’s care for that matter) shouldn’t depend on getting enough social media “likes” for fundraising.
Correction: Recipients *are* grateful
Everyone knows dementia and cognitive decline is most often no a linear process. People have good days and bad. So what that two assessments conflict? At the end of the day the man was not medically cleared and someone with a law degree is going to tell us different? In all likelihood this man will unfortunately be not cared for 24/7 by volunteers and, at the taxpayers expense, be sent back. The only winner here is the medevac company.
I agree, The argument by a University educated teacher (every teacher is University Educated) that the condition is not as serious as diagnosed by a health professional, is laughable.
I hope he’ll live long and enjoys his family to grow, but the reality is far from this. You did not look after him prior, what will change your attitude now? Keep on raising money, but please don’t bother others
That is not always the case. These people worked really hard to get him back home, I am sure it was not just for nothing. I am sure he will be living with family members and the family members will be taking turns taking care of him.
Raymond, glad you are back in your home community.
I did not realize you were in Ottawa. Not sure if I could due to covid restrictions, however, would have stopped in to say hello.
Take care and godspeed.
Welcome home Raymond
Good to hear your back where you belong Raymond, hope you have peace and happiness,
Gotta love how an “university educated teacher”can make a call like this. This is a selfish thing to do. The volunteering will stop, people won’t show up to help, and this man will be back on a plane at a cost of $35,000 to tax payers. Thanks guys.
That is such awesome news to read that Raymond is home surrounded by family/friends who will be there for him. Thankful to many friends/family who fund raise to bring Raymond home, God Bless you all! However, I am not quite amused with Legislature/GN, long before the territory became Nunavut. Plans to built such facilities could have been in the works, especially for long-term care.
I got tears of Joy for him to be home, also tears for the rest of the Elders who cannot go home.
Wow, some qallunaat really got nothing better to do than try trolling on Nunatsiaq news.
Right now there is another Inuit elder at Embassy West Senior Living whose family is saying doesn’t have dementia. The family is saying that the unilingual Inuktitut speaking 90 year old elder has presence of mind, does not have dementia and that the non-Inuktitut speaking healthcare workers don’t understand her and misdiagnosed her because if it.
They want her sent back to Nunavut.
Raymond Ningeocheak’s family and community shouldn’t have had to fundraise to get him home. And the family of the 90 year old elder shouldn’t have to either.
People go bankrupt all the time in the USA over healthcare costs, even with insurance. We are lucky we have universal healthcare in Canada. We shouldn’t have to fundraise for healthcare.
Please understand this elder’s last wish, to spent time with grandchildren and friends before passing on… to many misunderstanding experts, too many gn control, why can elders everywhere die with dignity? I remember some years back, a man went home from Edmonton knowing he will die within a week if he stops his treatment down there, He knew he would not last few wks, but the need to be with love ones was so great, he spent few precious days with his children and his grandchildren….human love surpassed anything, even some crazy gn minister’s logic. many claim to be Nunavummiut but does not have mentality, crazy…is there a old saying “lip service”?
Oh wow, a “university educated teacher” … impressive.
Seriously, who are you trying to impress, Nunatsiaq? This is laughable, but not in a good way.
Incidentally I am a university educated teacher, but that doesn’t confer any ability on me to render a medical diagnosis. It literally means absolutely nothing here, and the fact that you are flaunting this “credential” as if it does mean something is absolutely shameful.
It is absolutely gross, but consistent with the low expectations we have in Nunavut when it comes to what counts as a credential. What next and, an “NS educated student” recommending economic policy, and we will all be expected to nod and defer? It’s quite nuts frankly.
What the GN needs to do is stop spending millions of $$$ to southern elder care facilities in the South and build their own in Nunavut! In each Region!
These Elder Care Homes have their own Psychologists that examine and diagnose our inuit elders with dementia, which rarely was an issue in the past ,and prevent them from going back home, so GN will hand them out more $$$ to keep them there.
I am very happy that Raymond was able to go back home, I’m sure he has a lot of stories that he will talk about the year he spent in Embassy west in Ottawa.
I wish our own government would start representing us better and start to serve us better, with all the money our tiny territory receives our government is unwilling to make any changes and continues to try and copy what is done in the south.
Spending most of the governments money back south.
Why can’t this government do the right things?
Grateful he made it home. I heard about an elder that was sent south because staff at the elders complex had tested positive, and didn’t make it out from the Embassy West. I wonder what ever happened to the rest that were sent away.
“I guess we will never know”
At least update the fundraisers that contribute to this on the progress of their investment. And let it be a lesson to more people in the great cultural north, to look after their elders better in the first place. Don’t even talk about elder respect, unless you actually are doing it. Stop this superficial advertisement of valuable elders when you send them to another culture in the same sentence.