Alfred Moses

Thank you, Madam Chair. I had some questions earlier, so there was a little bit of mix-up over on this side of the table here.

In terms of the telehealth coordinator position, I would like to ask the Minister if he can give us just a quick update on how the telehealth program is being administered, and the effectiveness, and how many of all the communities hooked up to the telehealth system are actually utilizing the telehealth services. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s been a long week and I came into the House this morning pretty tired and I needed something to wake me up, and I’m really glad the Minister’s statement did wake me up here, yup. There’s a lot of savings, this investment that we’re doing into midwives, and I’m really concerned about what the Minister just said in terms of cost-savings measures. There’s so many different cost savings, so many benefits. I’d like to ask the Minister where the report is and where does he get his findings from to justify and confirm what he just previously said in his statement. Thank...

Mr. Speaker, with all the mention of community consulting and consulting with Inuvik, I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, is he familiar with the Department of Health and Social Services’ Midwifery Program review and expansion analysis midwifery options report of March 2012. Is the Minister familiar with that report? Can he confirm, please?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a constituent of Inuvik Boot Lake. Welcome, Ms. Judy McLeod, to the Assembly.

When can committee members and Members of this Legislative Assembly see a review on those policies, but specifically to the one that I had mentioned, the right to a second medical opinion? When can we see the review specifically for that?

Just specifically, up to how many years with that policy can one organization apply for the multi-year funding? How many years would they be able to receive funding under that policy?

Yes, just continuing on. Would the Minister be looking at creating a specific program on translation, in terms of medical terminology, that would either help support, maybe, our community health representatives who are probably some of our longest-standing employees in the Health and Social Services system? Would he be looking at possibly creating that program with the medical terminology, and make it part of either that program or some other program that local nurses could take, so that they can provide those services to our patients, especially the patients who don’t speak English?

Thank you, Madam Chair. In terms of directorate here, I’m just looking at the policy communications and legislation. I just want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if there is a plan in place to create a translator program within the regional health centres to bring some of our patients from small communities into the regional hospital or even territorial hospital. If there is a translator program in place for all the Aboriginal languages in the Northwest Territories, ones that are specific to that region, Can the Minister please answer that?

Thank you. The Minister just mentioned that he knows enough in the report to move forward on what the report is saying. The report is saying we need a community-based midwifery report. I mean, if he knows enough to move forward on that, why aren’t we doing that and we’re going into consultation where the consultation is all done in this report? So it really makes me wonder about that.

Can the Minister kind of confirm why dollars are being spent in regulations and standards when our previous Minister of Health has this signed off on the standards of practice for registered midwives? Can the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services following up on my Member’s statement with what residents have been asking for, and one in particular is with the Midwifery Program and dollars that are being allocated for this program here that was a suggestion brought forth by Members of the Assembly. I’m just wondering what the intention of dollars that are being allocated for this Midwifery Program, where they are going to be allocated and what the intention is of those dollars. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.