OHSNI moves closer to Larga-Baffin deal

MONTREAL — Patients from the Baffin region who are unilingual Inuktitut-speakers, elderly or those in need of special assistance will soon be able to stay at the Larga-Baffin House when they’re receiving medical treatment in Ottawa.

This much was determined when the Baffin Regional Board of Health and Social Services and the Ontario Ottawa Health Services Network Inc. [OHSNI] met earlier this week in Ottawa.

OSHNI is the non-profit group that has managed health care for Baffin residents in Ottawa since the Baffin Regional Health Board transferred its patient load from Montreal to Ottawa in 1998.

After the meeting, Jarvis Hoult, the CEO of the Baffin health board, issued a prepared statement saying that “both parties have recommended that Ottawa Health Services Network inc. initiate discussions with Larga-Baffin with the view to arranging the utilization of Larga-Baffin House within defined parameters and criteria.”

The decision and guidelines to determine which patients will go to Larga-Baffin won’t be official until the health board and OHSNI submit identical resolutions to their respective boards at the end of the month.

“I believe what Larga-Baffin will offer is a more supportive environment to those patients who have greater need,” Hoult told Nunatsiaq News.

The Larga-Baffin House was built by Larga Enterprises and the Qikiqtaaluk Corporation to provide residential services to Inuit patients from the Baffin region when they’re receiving medical treatment in Ottawa.

Despite complaints about the quality of services offered at the Rotel, OSHNI appeared initially reluctant to consider referring any patients to Larga-Baffin.

But Hoult said that the Rotel’s inability to meet some patients’ needs is now “something that we recognize.”