Glen Abernethy

It's going to be really important to get feedback from as many interested parties as possible, and over the next year, the department will reach out to community members, Aboriginal organizations, healthcare practitioners, and others from across the Northwest Territories to help develop an understanding of the strengths and gaps in the priorities for the enhancement of midwifery services at a territorial and Yellowknife level. The timing and details of the consultation plan will be developed by March 2017, and we hope to have a completed proposal for development of the territorial midwifery...

There is no designated midwifery unit in the hospital, as midwifery is primarily a community-based service versus an acute care service. If the territorial midwifery program is advanced to implementation, part of the development will be to include identifying an appropriate location that best fits the needs of the program. As a note, Mr. Speaker, the three birthing rooms in the new hospital are sized to include birthing tubs, which would allow for water birth. Those rooms actually, the physical layout and how those tubs will be utilized, the midwifery consultants actually had some opportunity...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize two different individuals: Victoria Baker and Sheena Goudreau. Both are senior nursing consultants with the territorial health services division in the Department of Health and Social Services. Welcome to the gallery.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the interim appropriation is calculated based on when we actually expect to spend the money. Historically, the department's interim appropriations have been approximately one quarter of what the total budget is expected to be from the upcoming year, as a significant amount of the department’s funding flows to the health and social services authorities through regular monthly cash flows, something that we have to do. However, the budget for out-of-territory hospitals sit in the ambulatory care service item line, the line the Member is talking about. We don't...

The 2012 report was more of an aspirational report. It wasn't actually a prescribed plan. It proposed three models for conversation: a community-based model, which the consultants felt could work in communities like Hay River, Inuvik, Yellowknife, or Behchoko; a regional model, which the consultants felt could work in the Beaufort-Delta, the Sahtu, or the Tlicho regions; and a territorial model. We did move forward and stabilize the midwifery services in Fort Smith. We did expand and provide midwifery services in Hay River. The realities in the Beaufort-Delta changed when we were actually...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we moved forward with midwives and stabilized midwives in Fort Smith, so there are two positions there providing birthing services in the community. We also have two staffed midwife positions in Hay River that are providing birthing services, as well as other services in the community. We did move forward with a model in the Beaufort-Delta. Originally, we were planning to have a community-based midwifery program there, but our demographics and some of our information changed. As a result, we went with a more community-based, or more regional, model that is...

The agreement that we have with the Gwich’in involves a number of different camps. Camps will incorporate cultural practices that support wellness and healing through traditional methods, medicine, and social interactions. It's my understanding that they are going to be delivering programs in all four seasons here in the Northwest Territories. As far as how one would apply, I don't have that information in front of me, but I'll certainly talk to the department, get the details, and share with the Member on how the Gwich’in are intending to advertise these camps and how they're encouraging...

As I indicated, I've had the opportunity as Minister to travel to all the communities in the Northwest Territories, and when I've been there one of the things that I hear the most about is medical travel and frustrations that exist around medical travel. The policy on escorts actually sets out that the requirement and criteria for an escort to travel with a medical travel client is known as a “non-medical escort,” and they may be approved if: the patient is under the age of 19; the patient is breastfeeding an infant and requires an escort to assist with the baby; the patient has a mental or...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Medical Travel Policy is designed to reduce financial impact on residents who are accessing insured health services. Those benefits are in place mostly to help address the geographical realities and needs that we have in the Northwest Territories for people who are accessing these insured services. There is a significant expenditure. The total budget for the medical travel program in 2015-2016 was $36.9 million, with projected expenditures actually over that, of $38.2 million. The total cost, we are able to recover some of those dollars from other...

We won't know what the federal legislation looks like until it is passed. We anticipate that it will be passed on June 6, which means we will have to be in a position to facilitate physician-assisted dying here in the Northwest Territories. Now that we have pulled together some information from stakeholders across Northwest Territories, we have the expert panel's report, we also have the report that was prepared for the federal government, and we also know that a number of the different provincial colleges of physicians are doing a significant amount of work on this. We are going to pull all...