Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 18/00) - Health funding concerns were raised Tuesday at a coroner's inquest into the death of a psychiatric patient who killed himself last January at Stanton Hospital.

"We've heard a lot about the shortage of nurses in the North," chief coroner Percy Kinney said, at the inquest into the death of Alf Ivarluk.

The 30-year-old Kugluktuk man, a diagnosed schizophrenic, hung himself last Jan. 7 in a washroom while in the psychiatric ward of Stanton Regional Hospital.

Craig Jordan, a psychiatric nurse, was one of two nurses working on the ward when Ivarluk committed suicide.

Spending has been approved on renovations that will help prevent suicides on the ward, and Jordan said "I hope future funding will continue.

"I think it would be very sad commentary if funding were not available because you can't put a price tag on a life."

Jordan said that he hoped the six jurors will recommend that the GNWT increase funding for psychiatric care at the Stanton, the territory's largest hospital.

Other concerns raised Tuesday included function of forms and policy and current government legislation that prevents trained psychiatric trained aids who aren't registered nurses from working on the ward.

Kinney observed that "there are lots of people with expertise who aren't recognized in the North."