Larga Baffin, Nunavut's medical boarding home in Ottawa, moving Oct. 1
Purchase of former hotel and retirement home will more than triple capacity
Baffin Island residents travelling south for medical treatment will soon find themselves staying at a new medical boarding home in Ottawa.
Larga Baffin has bought a former hotel and retirement home just down the street from the old building. Lynn Kilabuk, president of Larga Baffin, says the 103-bedroom facility can accommodate 275 people.
The current building, which just opened in 2009, is regularly over capacity, resulting in some patients having to be housed in hotels. It has only 40 rooms that can accommodate 81 people.
Kilabuk says patients will notice some improvements in the new building.
"We do have handicapped rooms; we have rooms with little living rooms for people who stay little bit longer," she said.
"Every room has its own bathroom."
She said there are a couple of two-bedroom suites for people who require more than one escort.
There will also be a chapel and a new kitchen, set up for traditional country food.