Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, I'm under the impression that we actually have rape kits in the vast majority of our health facilities in the Northwest Territories, but I can't actually say a hundred per cent that we have one in every health authority or health centre. So the first step, obviously, is I will confirm whether or not we have them in the communities and figure out how to get them into the communities so that they're there, and then I'll work with the Member and committee to figure out how best to get that information out to residents across the Northwest Territories, including staff.

Mr. Speaker, we have moved forward with Health Transformation, so we have the one authority here in the Northwest Territories as well as the Tlicho and Hay River. The senior management complement in the Sahtu is the same and is going to remain the same.

We have a CEO and a number of directors who are providing leadership within the region as well as some manager level jobs moving down. We aren't intending at this point to create any new jobs in that region in the senior management area; however, I will say that I have made a commitment to the people of the Northwest Territories and to the...

Mr. Speaker, we won't have a clear indication of whether or not we need some additional resources, how much those additional resources might be until we're actually done the Continuing Care Action Plan. I'm certainly going to bring that to committee so we can have some discussions.

Before we ask for more money, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we have to do is make sure that the current dollars available for homecare are being spent wisely and that we're getting maximum benefit for every dollar that we're spending; that we're getting the outcomes that are intended.

The Members know, all...

Mr. Speaker, we have been working on some of our respite and home care services for seniors across the Northwest Territories. We have identified respite beds that are available across the Northwest Territories in our different facilities, and we're looking to get more information out there about the types of programs that we provide under home care.

We do provide home support in most communities and certainly all regions in the Northwest Territories. They are based on a medical referral. You do have to be referred for home care and a physician or a practitioner will identify the degree or range...

Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, residents of the Northwest Territories when they travel to other jurisdictions like BC and they go to a hospital or health centre for medically necessary care through reciprocal billing agreements and whatnot, those services are provided to those residents and there's no cost obviously to our residents for doing that.

Where we have a challenge with BC is where a health practitioner in the Northwest Territories makes a referral on behalf of one of our residents to something like an MRI or a specialty clinic that's available in Edmonton or Calgary or in Alberta for...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is right. We could probably debate this for an extended period of time, but at the end of the day we do respect our seniors. We are putting programs and services in place in support of seniors. We have a healthy relationship with the NWT Seniors Society. In fact, one of the members of the NWT Seniors Society said just because I happen to be 65 doesn't mean I'm infirm or unable to do these things.

When an individual is challenged, they have some limitations. Of course, Mr. Speaker, we are going to provide non-medical escorts. With respect to the situation that the Member...

Mr. Speaker, one of the roles of the committees of Cabinet is to help to break down barriers between different departments and get departments working together on cross-purposes. This is certainly an area that I think would fit nicely within the Safety and Wellness Committee of Cabinet, and, as I said, I've referred it to that committee for discussion to see what we're currently doing, what we can do within existing finances, existing resources, and what partnerships we need to work on in order to get that information out.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I just need to confirm whether there's one in every health centre across the Northwest Territories; I can't remember off the top of my head if that is the case. I'll also work with the authority to make sure that appropriate training is available.

We do have challenges. We do have a significant amount of turnover, and sometimes we have individuals who are only in for a couple of days, but I will work with the authority to make sure that there's reasonable training to ensure that most of our nurses can be trained in a timely and reasonable way.

We hope to go out for an open competition on that developmental position shortly. I will certainly keep the Member informed once we have a candidate; I'll also let him know who the candidate is, and hopefully we'll be able to find a solid person who in a couple of years can take over that CEO role in the Sahtu. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the opening of that new facility, and we plan to be moved in there and fully operational towards the end of the next calendar year, we do have to fully staff a long-term care unit. There is no long-term care unit in the Sahtu at this point so it's all new positions.

We're just in the process of quantifying how many positions that will be and they'll obviously include some kitchen staff, some support workers for the residents in the building, as well as some other janitorial positions, as well as some support positions like RNs. I don't have the exact numbers at this...