Marty Brown
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (Nov 11/98) - Last week, a Rankin Inlet resident took her grandson to the health centre for a routine checkup and was appalled when a nurse with pink-eye wanted to look after the child.

Rose Tootoo says she then asked for another nurse to look after her grandson and got one.

"I didn't want her touching him. Pink-eye is very contagious," says the mother of three who has seen the disease before and knows the risks associated with it.

Nurse-in-charge, Donna Brown, told xxxKivalliq News that the nurse in question had used up all her sick leave, and a visiting optomologist from Winnipeg said as long as the nurse's hands were washed well there would be no danger of her spreading the disease.

"It looked unsightly but at no time was there any problem," Brown says. "As long as she washed her hands properly and wore gloves there should be no problem."

Brown says that unless there was direct contact with droplets from the eye the disease could not spread. That's why day-care kids catch pink-eye so easily she said.

"Hand-washing, hand- washing, hand-washing is the answer," Brown said. "And don't share towels or washcloths."

Bill Rideout, environmental health officer with the Keewatin Regional Board of Health said pink-eye is a nuisance.

"It's a viral infection that is spread by rubbing or touching your eye."

Symptoms include red, itchy, runny eyes that look awful, he says. There is no lasting damage and the body heals itself in about 10-14 days.