Rankin Inlet (Sep 06/04) - Hamlet councillor and MLA Tagak Curley are in full support of Rankin Inlet's push for a 24-hour care facility for the region.

Nancy Gordon presented a petition with 204 signatures requesting a facility to Curley and Levinia Brown, minister of health, shortly after collecting the signatures.

Curley said the community has his full support. After addressing Rankin Inlet council, with the issue, Aug. 23, he started the legislative process to present it to the Government of Nunavut.

"It's a long-overdue facility needed in this town," he said.

He asked for the support of the hamlet council during the regular meeting, to which mayor Lorne Kusugak agreed.

"I'm asking for more vocal support, so our job can be more unified in presenting it to the government," said Curley.

Kusugak wants the government to think big if it plans to support the facility, so that future needs are anticipated.

"Let's think big instead of small. Let's not put a six-bed facility in Rankin and then find out it's too small," he said.

The community currently has four units available for those who need care, elderly or otherwise. Across the Kivalliq region, Baker Lake and Arviat are the only hamlets with facilities available.

Gordon is running out of time to wait for a facility. Her ailing mother requires around-the-clock care in her housing unit, something the family is struggling to provide.

"I just can't balance going to work all day, going to her house to look after her and my kids, too," said the single mother. The family is facing the possibility of sending their mother out of the community for better care, either to Baker Lake or Arviat. In a cruel twist of irony, the former has a waiting list, while the latter can't provide the care she needs.