That's the idea behind a home and community care training program working its way through Baffin Island communities.

Thanks to a partnership between the Qikiqtani Inuit Association and the Department of Health and Social Services, registered nurses are teaching participants how to provide home care to patients unable through health or age to take care of themselves.

The longer the patients can stay at home, the better they feel. Government sees less strain on health facilities and finances, too.

Care providers will help improve the quality of life for the patient: meal preparation, housekeeping, personal care, respiratory care and making sure medications are taken.

"Home care helps families to care for their significant others in the home," explains Gogi Greeley, health and social services regional co-ordinator for the program.

"We can't replace the family's involvement, but home care support maintains the person in their home," Greeley says.

Carolyn Inookee is one of three registered nurses hopping around Baffin communities to conduct training. Now near the end of the first stage, during the second "semester" in mid-February she will go a back to those communities to go into deeper home care skills.

Starting with the basics Home care students start by learning basic home making skills, how to clean someone and how to teach the patient to care for themselves.

The second stage will also go into palliative care: helping a person at the end of their days be more comfortable.

The program doesn't replace work done by registered nurses or community health nurses. These professionals will still be called on to handle serious day-to-day injury or illness issues -- such as replacing complicated dressings -- as well as administer medications by injection.

But home care workers can teach families to give injections for diabetes.

It's important to know that while "home care" in some form has been around for a long time, the shape it takes today is to provide a body of teaching that helps the worker look after the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the patient, Inookee says.

"For example, does the client want to go to church or have the Bible read aloud," Inookee explains.

The care provider will also have a vehicle to get to the clients, and to get the clients out of a home-bound isolation to communities. Communities can approach the program to make it fit for them.

"Each community is a little bit different," Inookee says. Iglulik had a lot of cancer incidents that influenced what people wanted to learn there.

Training provides two visits of five days of class work for who will work as home care aides, but also offers a two-day course for informal care givers such as family members and interested community people.

Once this year's program is complete, the trainers will consider all the "wish lists" they gathered to create a more advanced program for next year, Inookee says.