Statements in Debates
Originally, prior to the changes in 2015-2016, the audits were done with regional authorities, were done by a senior auditing team within the department, and were unfortunately conducted kind of on an irregular basis, and I think this is one of the things that the Auditor General rightfully, hammered the Department of Health and Social Services on, that this was not done in a regular way. This was not done regularly. In the past, the individual reports were shared with the authority so that recommendations for improvements within could be made. We want to be able to continue to do those types...
Mr. Speaker, any time the federal government announces a pot of money that’s available to support youth and mental health, addictions or frankly any pot the government identifies that might be available to the Northwest Territories, we as Cabinet, we as Members obviously look into that to figure out what is available to the Northwest Territories. I can’t speak to exactly what is available to us today or what mechanism there exists for us to actually obtain some of those funds. I do know that I think it was the year before the last the federal government did announce a $69 million pot to help...
Mr. Speaker, there are a number of places. They can go to community counsellors. The Member will point out that there isn’t a community counsellor in every community in the Northwest Territories, but we have them in most communities in the Northwest Territories. Where they don’t exist, they can be reached by telephone. Those numbers are usually available at the community level in the community health stations or other places, so please encourage your youth to look at those.
As we move forward with the new community counsellor program, I think there’s a real opportunity to enhance what’s...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, if an individual is staying at a boarding home, meals are intended to be provided. However, if they are arriving late or they have experienced delays, light food is supposed to be available for them, so not a full meal but something that they can eat when they get there. This can include things like sandwiches, fruit, juice, cookies – we all like cookies – coffee, and tea, should they miss one of their regular meals. If they are in transit and they are late or they are travelling over what would be a normal meal time, they can claim up to $18 a...
Mr. Speaker, when these individuals do come to our attention, we do work with them on one-off basis to try and address their issues. It does not mean that every cancer patient is in the same situation that we have described, but where there are certainly issues as a result of other conditions or the chemo effect on their immune systems. We are prepared to work with them to find alternative arrangements. It may not be a hotel. It might be other family supports or other private accommodation that might be most appropriate, but we are certainly willing to work with our residents to make sure that...
Mr. Speaker, when an individual is staying at one of our boarding homes, the transportation is included in the boarding home contract, so they are compensated for providing that transportation. Transportation is intended or supposed to be provided to and from the airport, but also to and from appointments. If the Member has some specific incidents he would like to raise, I would certainly like to hear those to see how often that is happening. Maybe it is something that we need to look a little bit more deeply at.
Yes there are all sorts of different support groups that exist throughout the Northwest Territories. In addition, we have a cancer care coordinator who works out of Stanton Territorial Hospital and does provide outreach to support NWT cancer patients throughout their entire cancer journey. When the cancer coordinator is aware of a cancer patient via healthcare provider or by a self-referral, she does let patients know about the supports that are available to them that are appropriate and does work to connect them with those resources.
Mr. Speaker, the medical travel guide also lists a number of...
As we’re looking into our contract, if there are any irregularities or changes coming, I’m certainly happy to share that information with Members. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do have contracts with a number of providers, both here, and in Yellowknife, as an example, as well as in Edmonton. These homes provide incredibly valuable services to the residents of the Northwest Territories who do need to receive care and/or assessments and diagnosis outside of their home communities. We are always monitoring how the contract is being administered. I will commit to having a conversation with the department to find out where we are now, when the last sort of review was done, and any information I get, I am certainly happy to share...
This goes to the fact that we have put in a new system for actually collecting data, and we have tested it rigorously to ensure that the data collection is something that is both useful and practical, and it will give us information we need to make informed decisions moving forward. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would like to see a copy of the information the Member is making reference to, and put it in context with respect to where that letter was sent to, who, and what was it answering as opposed to making assumptions in this House on exactly what the conversation before and after was.