Glen Abernethy

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member indicated earlier, the position is no longer called a breast cancer patient navigator or a cancer patient navigator. The new one is, actually, the cancer care coordinator, which still has a key patient advocate role and we are currently trying to fill that position. We are going through some internal recruitment at Stanton to find somebody to take on that role. So we are recruiting as we speak. Thank you.

Once again, I will pass that information along or that question along to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and I will get a more fulsome response. At the same time, all residents of the Northwest Territories are able to receive the services we provide, which includes counselling, mental health and addictions services. We do have a number of contracts with different providers for individuals who have substance abuse challenges. Those services, all services, all services that are available in the Northwest Territories are available to all residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we disclosed in the previous contract how much we had contracted for the services for the previous day shelter. The information of what we are spending on this day shelter is out and available, but as we move on, we would be happy to provide the Member with actual costs at the end of each fiscal year, as well as committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The day shelter at this point in time is providing some basic services, basically a warm place for people to go as well as some referral functions. We had been talking with the provider about having more opportunities for people to come into that particular facility and offer referrals and other services. The NWT Disabilities Council intends to expand their services to include a process for more referrals and management of the day shelter. They also intend to have some adult service workers scheduled for regular office hours come in and visit as well as some individuals from public health to...

The Aboriginal Health and Community Wellness staff members are working with the group, the Breast Health/Breast Cancer Action Group that the Member has mentioned and they’ve been having continued dialogue. So there has been some conversations both ways. We are hoping to have the cancer care coordinator position filled in the immediate future, but it’s hard to say for sure whether we’ll find somebody. We are currently staffing. The staffing process usually takes a month or two. We’re hoping to have it filled within that period, but we have had problems staffing similar positions in the past. So...

Thank you. The cancer care coordinator will focus on navigating the system and embracing the patient-centred care philosophy. It will help improve the patient’s experience and care outcomes and empower a patient towards things like self-management, harm reduction and health improvement and maintenance.

This is a patient advocate and they will consult with a variety of health care providers in partnership with the patient. They will assist in identifying needs within the cancer care continuum for the patient and for the patient’s caregivers as well as their family. The cancer care coordinator...

Thank you. In the action plan, the territorial response for the framework, there was some money identified by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to put towards food initiatives. I will get the specifics and share that with the Member, but I will also point out that in the $500,000 that we allocated a number of the initiatives that we did support were based on food security. We had a healthy living application that was submitted, we had Growing Gameti’s Wellness that was supported, which actually supported the largest community garden outside of regional centres, there’s a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, the GNWT established an advisory committee to help us lead and prepare the development of a territorial action plan. They have been working throughout the summer, they’ve been working on a number of different initiatives, including the development of a plan and they’re hoping to bring the draft plan to a roundtable that we’re planning for December.

Also, over the summer with the participation of this advisory committee, the GNWT allocated the $500,000 that was supported by this Assembly to support the different anti-poverty initiatives. We had 18...

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide this House with an update on the Med-Response system.

Med-Response is the first program of its kind in Canada – or anywhere else, as far as we know. Other jurisdictions have call centres to coordinate air ambulance triage and dispatch, or call centres to provide clinical consultation, but Med-Response is breaking new ground by combining these functions into one operation.

Mr. Speaker, Med-Response has the potential to transform how we provide care to patients who are injured or critically ill. Today we have a patchwork of protocols and processes that govern...

Thank you. The $500,000 is part of the base, so it will be available every year. It’s application-based. So we are open to any application that comes in. The catch is the applications have to fall clearly within one of the five pillars identified within the framework to improve the lives of people throughout the Northwest Territories. Thank you.