Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Sep 23/98) - The Keewatin Regional Health Board's chair says Kivalliq residents have waited long enough.

In the nine months since former chief executive officer Jim Egan was fired, six executive directors have sat at the head of the KRHB. This is about to change, said Rosie Oolooyuk.

"I can't wait -- it's been too long without a permanent CEO," she said Friday after the board approved the hiring of a health administrator from British Columbia earlier in the month.

"It was getting frustrating with those coming and going and not getting to know them."

Oolooyuk said that the search took a long time and she blames this partially on the board's need to find someone willing to stay for a long time.

"We want somebody that will be permanent...not just coming in for six months or a year," she said. "We were just looking for someone that will work hard and with dedication...will do a good job in the long term."

Oolooyuk also said that the new CEO will bring some stability to the region's health-care system and will improve things substantially.

"This will be better," she said.

The board received six applications for the position and interviewed three people in early August.

Keith Best, who is currently working in British Columbia, will be arriving in the region Sept. 28. Best, a health administrator for many years in British Columbia and Ontario, is touted to be well-known in the area of health care and is expected to stay in the region long-term.

Outgoing interim CEO Jack MacKinnon, who has been acting as executive director since June, will stay in the region for several more weeks and won't be returning to Yellowknife until early in the new year.