Glen Abernethy

Thanks to my conversations with the Department of Public Works and Services, it is my understanding at this time that we are on time and on budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The original completion date for the contractor was March 31, 2015, and we are still within that date. We were a little bit ahead of schedule through last summer and were hoping to do final construction and interior finishes through January and February. Unfortunately, we had an inspection on the 25th to determine if the building was ready to be opened and there were some deficiencies identified that the contractor is currently working on. We still have until March 31st to complete those final interior finishes. The original plan was to begin moving furniture and...

Our employees are our most valuable resources and we’re committed to their continued development. I know that there are dollars available for training particular activities, but as far as the number of dollars allocated to train health promotion officers, I don’t have that number.

We are, as I’ve indicated, committed to our staff. We want them to be current. We want them to be up to date on practices and procedures, and we want them to be continually evolving so that they can be current at all times. So, I will do a little bit of digging and I’ll get some specific numbers for the Member. Thank...

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services is pursuing the 17th Legislative Assembly’s goal of healthy, educated people by investing in prevention, education awareness and early childhood development. By working in partnership with community and Aboriginal governments, non-governmental organizations, health professionals and other stakeholders we can achieve our vision of best health, best care, for a better future.

To help all partners align their efforts, we are holding a Territorial Wellness Gathering from March 3rd to 5th at the Explorer Hotel in Yellowknife. We are...

The department hears from time to time, but we also hear it the other way as well. We have individuals who would prefer to be in southern facilities because they don’t feel that they’re getting the supports they need here, and at the end of the day, we make referrals to the South that sometimes are declined. So it goes both ways, and we do hear from residents on both sides of this issue. As I said, we really would prefer to have those people back here. I hear the Member talking about opportunities for maybe bringing people from the South up, but we would still need incredibly specialized...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There’s a large number of facilities that we actually are utilizing – there isn’t one facility – because the residents who we actually have down at these facilities have a huge range of needs. We have some individuals who require 24/7 with multiple attendees in order to provide them the services that they need.

As far as when I’ve been down to them, I haven’t visited them. I don’t believe standing committee has visited them. But if that is something standing committee is interested in doing, I’m willing to entertain that and have a discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’ve already committed to working with the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services as well as Hay River Health and Social Services to put together the information that we have so that it can be clearly articulated to the Member as well as to the residents of Hay River who think they may be affected by these changes in infrastructure in Hay River. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with the direction provided in 2010 which basically established that PWS would be responsible for providing operations and maintenance services to buildings owned and operated by the GNWT, eventually when the building is completed, the maintenance of the new facility, the boilers and structural maintenance will be done by Public Works and Services. We in Health and Social Services believe that there are a number of residual functions, maintenance functions that should be retained by the authority and by the health system, maintenance specific to technical...

At this time there hadn’t been plans to actually bring professionals into Yellowknife to see the facility. What is important is the dialogue that occurs between the health practitioners in the field and our Med-Response team. We have put together some documentation manuals to help individuals understand the terminology and how things work. I do take the point; it would be good for our employees to see them become more familiar. I will certainly work with the department to explore training opportunities to ensure our staff are as familiar as possible and have an opportunity to be effective with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prior to the implementation of Med-Response, a nurse in a region, regardless of the region, would call a physician who was associated with that particular region. For instance, in the Sahtu, if there was no doctor available in Simpson, they would call the medical director who may be located in another province, which was often the case, who may not have known exactly the current status of our air ambulance team. Now with Med-Response, rather than trying to figure out who a CHR or CHW in a community like Trout Lake, they would actually call one number in the Northwest...