By Nunatsiaq News
Nunavut elders will soon start moving into the new Rankin Inlet long-term care facility.
“We are on the verge of completing this important milestone in providing long-term care closer to home,” Health Minister John Main said in a news release Tuesday.
“We look forward to having elders returning to the territory in the coming weeks.”
Starting May 26, each week three to four elders currently living in long-term care at Embassy West Senior Living in Ottawa will arrive in Rankin Inlet on direct medevac flights co-ordinated by the Department of Health, the release from the department indicated.
The 24-bed facility in Rankin Inlet was substantially completed in January, with 22 permanent beds and two temporary-care beds.
At the time, Main told Nunatsiaq News there were 70 Nunavut elders living in long-term care facilities outside the territory.
The Rankin Inlet elder home features two identical wings each with 12 single bedrooms with bathrooms. There are gathering areas, a hair salon, country food kitchen, rehabilitation gym, ventilated room for carving and crafting, and a prayer hall.
It is set to have 40 to 50 full-time staff.
Sakku Investments Corp. and Embassy West Senior Living will jointly oversee the facility under their 10-year contract with the Nunavut government that’s worth $15 million per year.
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.
Work is underway on 24- and 48-bed facilities in Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit, with properties secured for both establishments.
The Cambridge Bay elder-care home is expected to be completed by fall 2028 and the Iqaluit facility in late 2029 or early 2030, though no opening dates have been released. There was no price estimate available as of March.
The Rankin Inlet facility was originally to be completed in 2023, and was a response to the government’s assessment that the “continuing-care system in Nunavut is beyond capacity and does not meet the needs of Nunavummiut,” according to the GN’s planning document.
Completion was pushed to 2024 because of payment issues between the project’s contractor and subcontractor, then was delayed again until 2025.