Glen Abernethy

Hemodialysis is a very complex process. It actually involves removing the blood from the human, putting it through a machine, and inserting it back into the human. It is very complex. You need highly trained individuals to do it, and the machines need thorough cleaning after every use to make sure that there is no contamination or harm caused to our patients.

It is a very complex process. We are putting it in our hospitals. We have put it in Stanton. There is an expanded area in the new Stanton for dialysis. We have put it in Hay River. There is an expanded area in Hay River where it is. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now we deal with them on an individual basis depending on where the individual is coming from, how long they have to be in the community, whichever community it happens to be, whether it's Hay River or Yellowknife, for their treatment. If they have to stay overnight, obviously we will be accommodating them. If they are in during the day, we will certainly transport them to the facility and transport them back to the airport.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to dialysis, we have expanded our dialysis services here for the Northwest Territories. We have...

The costs of the boarding home includes accommodations, meals, light snacks, as well as ground transportation for patients, as I have already indicated. The cost of the boarding homes is in the range of about $200 a day. The boarding homes provide a variety of meals throughout the day, and they try to have traditional food on the menu when it is made available to them.

When given notice, Mr. Speaker, when somebody lets them know, the boarding home can also accommodate specific medically required diets, things to help individuals who are diabetic or cardiac patients who have a low-salt...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, approved non-medical escorts are provided the same medical travel benefits as the patients who they are supporting and escorting. This is coverage for travel, meals, accommodations, and local ground transportation in accordance with the policies. Neither patients nor escorts are compensated for time away from work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members with an update on the NWT On the Land Collaborative. We know that on the land programs contribute to community wellness, healing, healthy living, and environmental stewardship and protection. These are fundamental goals of our government's mandate. Residents have also been clear in telling us that opportunities to be on the land are important to them. That is why, in addition to community wellness and programming supports, our government worked with partners to launch a new type of funding model, the NWT On the Land Collaborative, three years ago.

Th...

We have already had a cursory look at that, and one of the benefits they have is high-end highways that are paved, smooth, and they are usually transporting or going between communities that are a little larger, that have access to the sterilized water and the other things that they need to make sure that the equipment is properly cleaned and those types of things.

In light of the fact that many of our roads aren't paved in the Northwest Territories, and we don't always have direct access to the level of sterilization in the water that would be necessary for hemodialysis, recognizing how...

With the peritoneal dialysis, which is the one that is done at home, the patient and their support person have to go to Alberta for a couple of weeks to actually be fully trained on how to provide that service, and then they are actually supported by the Alberta Health Services in their delivery. They have a constant contact with that individual.

I hear the Member. I mean, yes, people go on holidays. People may be out of the community. It is a burden. I hear the Member. I will have the department look at it to see what it would take to provide that training to more than one person so that there...

We do have a number of revisions to the medical travel policy currently under development. I hope to share those proposed revisions with the standing committee in the next couple of weeks, if not next month for sure.

I can tell you that increasing financial supports for non-medical escorts is not one of the proposed changes, so compensating them for time away from work is not one of the changes that we are proposing. As part of our work, Mr. Speaker, we have reviewed medical travel programs from across the country as well as other jurisdictions. Except for Nunavut, the benefits that we are...

When patients stay in the boarding home, they are provided with meals and there are light foods available throughout the day, things like sandwiches, fruit juices, and cookies, so that if they miss a meal, those are there. If they are in transit for a day, they can claim the $18 a day to offset the cost of incidentals. When patients stay in private or commercial accommodations, they receive meal per diems in accordance with the policies.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to recognize some of the partners in the NWT On the Land Collaborative as visitors in the gallery today: Sarah Dennis, Regional Environmental Coordinator with ENR; Jess Dunkin, director of On the Land Programs with the NWT Recreations and Parks Association; John B. Zoe, the community advisor for the Tlicho Region; Winter Haley, Communities and Communications Advisor with Diavik Diamond Mines Inc.; Steven Nitah and Barrett Sonny Lenoir with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative; Angela Young, coordinator, and Jackie Siegel, project coordinator, with the Indigenous Languages...