Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Chesterfield Inlet (June 29/05) - Leaning forward on her wheelchair, little Tamia cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the Naja Isabelle Home with a little help from Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Dozens of the community's 350 residents watched the June 22 ceremony from the bottom of the steps, while others sat on roofs of their pick-up trucks. Three boys even climbed ladders attached to the building's water tanks for a better view.

"I'm coming down," Tamia said in a surprisingly loud and clear voice just after the ribbon fell onto the wooden steps.

The crowd laughed, but actually it would be nearly impossible for the home's 10 patients to get down a ramp on their own.

At the $3.8-million facility, 10 severely disabled residents - most of whom are unable to speak and are strapped into wheelchairs when moved around - receive special care.

"It sometimes gets to the point where having a severely handicapped child is a 24-hour-a-day job," said director of care Dianne Raniowski of why a family may need to send someone to the facility.

But with younger patients receiving different forms of mental and physical stimulation, Raniowski said it is possible that some of them may eventually walk out the door on their own.

Naja, which translates from Inuktitut as sister, refers to Sister Therese Isabelle, who spent more than 15 years working at the community's St. Theresa Hospital - originally operated by the Diocese of Hudson's Bay beginning in the 1940s.

Created by the hamlet council

Chester's Pimakslirvik (home for those who cannot look after themselves) Corp. was created by the hamlet council in 2002 to take over the St. Theresa Hospital contract. It operates the Naja Isabelle facility under contract from the Nunavut government.

Perched on a short hill coming into the community from the airport, Naja Isabelle's front side looks out over Hudson's Bay, while the back windows provide a view of the land.

It's now home to people from across Nunavut, ranging in age from 18 months old, to a pair of 33 year olds.

Families can visit, or the patients can return home, twice a year. While the old facility used to accept collect calls, a toll-free number is now available.

Major employer

In a community where the unemployment rate was determined to be as high as 29 per cent in a 1999 labour force survey, the 28 land claims beneficiaries employed by the home since it began operations in January of 2005 is significant.

Philippa Aggark has spent about five years working at the both the old Theresa Hospital, and now at Naja Isabelle. Courses toward her Community Service Worker Certificate at Chesterfield Inlet's Nunavut Arctic College prepared Aggark for unique aspects of the job, such as, among other things, how to feed someone using a tube.

"I come to work to help the needed ones, to take care of them and try to understand what they need," said the 45-year-old Aggark.

Staff members wear bright yellow shirts with Naja Isabelle Home Chesterfield Inlet emblazoned in red across the chest.

The shirt's colour was chosen by Tamia - whom Aggark calls "princess" - as her favourite.

She says the job is rewarding, but difficult when patients are sick because most cannot communicate their needs.

Rankin Inlet's Johnny Ittinuar lost the use of his legs 12 years ago during a vehicle roll-over. As the Kivalliq representative for the Nunavut Disabilities Society, he feels better knowing Nunavut now has this type of facility.

"For someone like me it's good. I know in the future I might end up staying here," he said.