Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (May 20/98) - The Keewatin Regional Health Board has a new chair more than four months after Bette Palfrey resigned amidst a health crisis in the region.

Rosie Oolooyuk, a long-time Rankin Inlet resident with a lengthy record of community service, was appointed by Health and Social Services minister Kelvin Ng last Tuesday. She replaced Percy Kabloona, who had been named interim chair after Palfrey left the post in January.

Oolooyuk served nine years as a trustee on the board until two years ago, when she stepped down. She was also secretary-treasurer of the Kivalliq Inuit Association as well as a hamlet councillor and deputy mayor in the 1980s.

"I'm looking forward to it as I was there before," she said. "I was there when they started to transfer health from the federal government to the GNWT."

Oolooyuk said she has, for years, been active in the improvement of health services in the Keewatin. She remembers trying to get a hospital for the region in the 1970s when she was a board member with the KIA.

"Trying to get services closer to home was always our first priority," she said.

Ng also said that Oolooyuk was chosen for her extensive background in the region, particularly for her involvement in health services.

"She has a tremendous amount of experience and she's been with the board since its inception in 1988," he said.

It was, however, a difficult decision, because there were two other nominees who were also more than qualified for the post. Eight candidates from around the Keewatin came forward.

"There was a few that really stood out," he said.

Ng said Oolooyuk's appointment will likely be a two-year one, after which time the new minister of health in Nunavut would appoint or re-appoint the chair.

"If I can, I would like to limit it to a short term," he said. "If it were up to me, I would limit it to two years."

For now, Oolooyuk said she is catching up on what she has missed in her two years since she left the board.

"There's a lot of issues we have to look at long-term," she said. "And Kiguti is the first issue on the agenda."