Silent rally in Iqaluit requires more elder care facilities and helps in Nunavut

Key takeaways: 

• The Health minister states getting elders home from the South is not a ‘black and white matter.
• Protestors encircle Sarah Netser in Iqaluit, who ask for more alternatives for elder care in Nunavut. 
• Netser’s father, ex Nunavut Tunngavik vice-president Raymond Ningeocheak, has been getting treatment for dementia in Ottawa, but the household likes to bring him home to Coral Harbour Nunavut.

Eldercare facilities demanded in Nunavut: 

Approximately 20 individuals assembled outside Nunavut’s Legislative Assembly Friday morning, meeting temperatures below -25 C, to indicate their muted backing for a Coral Harbour, Nunavut, a family attempting to get their father home from a dementia facility in Ottawa.

The protestors also asked the government to deliver more elder care facilities in the region and more support to help families care for their elder relatives and community members at home.  

Sarah Netser, whose dad Raymond Ningeocheak has cared for dementia for the previous year at Embassy West Senior Living Facility in Ottawa. 

Ningeocheak served nearly 40 years as the second vice-president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the land claim association for Nunavut that represents approximately 30,000 Inuit. 

Also read: Nunavut senator slams protest in Ottawa leaves Conservative caucus

The family has already signed a release to get him home, believing that the health facilities in Coral Harbour can’t deal with his demands and taking responsibility for his care. 

However, they can’t obtain medical support to move him, told Iqaluit lawyer Anne Crawford, who organized the silent protest.

Without support, the Nunavut health department won’t bear the expense of his travel home or for equipment like a hospital bed. That would depart the family on the hook for almost $45,000 in costs. 

Crawford assists the family in their talks with the government and defines herself as an elder’s advocate.  “They’re looking for an attraction or a second thought to see if it’s suitable for him to come home,” she stated. Source – cbc.ca