RANKIN INLET
The new facility used to host the recent visit of the Tuxedo Animal Hospital's pet clinic to Rankin Inlet proved itself to be a valuable addition to pet care in the community this past month.

An impressed young Will Hartman looks on as animal-health technician Jen Dakin demonstrates tooth cleaning during the Tuxedo Animal Hospital's pet clinic in Rankin Inlet this past month. - photo courtesy of Page Burt

Dogteam and Nanuq Lodge owner John Hickes said the two sections of buildings he put together to form the new facility were donated to the cause by Ron Roach, Shawn Maley and Howard Brown.

He said the three men are owed big thanks for donating the sections and helping to better the care of animals in the community.

"The veterinarian and two animal-health technicians who used the building this past month said it was a decent little facility for a community this size," said Hickes. "And we still haven't totally given up on the idea of getting an X-ray machine because, in many cases, we can't really tell if an animal has a broken bone or not without one. It cost quite a bit of money to ship a dog out to Winnipeg if you suspect they have a broken bone.

"Having one would really help the community, that's for sure."

Clinic organizer Page Burt said the health-team members were all totally impressed with the new building.

She said having water in the surgical room was a real plus, compared to having to walk across from the Curling Club to the bathroom at the arena for water.

"We can't say just how much we've really appreciated the hamlet's support in letting us use the Curling Club for our clinic for all those years," said Burt.

"The hamlet guys worked really hard to clean the room out and put up the partitions to guide the dogs in and keep the people out but the new building just worked better on a number of different levels.

"All the equipment and stuff can stay in the building instead of having to be moved out.

"The one problem with the new building is that it chronically freezes up but we'll just have to thaw it out before we do the clinic, depending on the time of year we have it."

Burt said the Tuxedo team did about 30 surgeries, mostly spays and neuters, during its recent visit in addition to about 60 exam appointments being booked.

She said having two separate rooms will also be a big advantage during years the animal hospital sends two veterinarians with the team.

"We didn't really see the advantage this year because the team consisted of one vet and two animal-health technicians.

"But any year they have two vets come we can have exams going on simultaneously to surgery.

"It's more complex to schedule it that way, but it's far safer because you can't have barking dogs coming in while another one is under anaesthesia. They can hear and sometimes, when they're just going under or just coming out of the anaesthesia, they twitch, so the two separate places works much better."

Burt said the new building will soon have its own surgical light and, while she still remains hopeful about an X-ray machine, it's not looking as promising as it once was.

She said the machine began slipping away when health centre X-ray technician Susan Loch, who was willing to look after, handle and maintain it, moved away.

"Having Susan meant we could get an older film machine, but now we're also hearing it will be very difficult to get the actual film in a few years because, just like everything else, it's going digital and digital X-ray machines are so much more expensive.

"Jonas (Dr. Watson) is looking to see if you can use parts from a non-digital machine to have a digital processor," she said. "He's being helped by Matt Stacey, so we'll have to see where they get with that before making a final decision.

"We'd also like to get an anaesthesia machine, which are quite delicate, so they don't have to carry theirs back and forth from Winnipeg."

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