Construction complete on new long-term care home in Nunavut [Video]

A ribbon-cutting ceremony in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, on Tuesday celebrated the completed construction of a new long-term care facility to serve the Kivalliq region. 

Nunavut elders who need the highest level of care are currently sent to retirement homes in the south, such as Embassy West in Ottawa, because the territory doesn’t have facilities of its own to look after them. 

Once it opens, however, the new long-term care facility in Rankin Inlet will change that.

“Now we can start the process of bringing our elders home,” said Lorne Kusgak, the territory’s finance minister, at this week’s celebration. 

The government of Nunavut says the facility has 24 beds. It’s designed for elders who need level 4 or 5 care — the top two levels on the territory’s scale for elder care. Health Minister John Main said in a statement that it would be the first time Nunavut could offer top-level …