Julie Green

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Tuesday, March 28th, 2023, I will present Bill 77, Nursing Profession Act, to be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share information today about the voluntary supports available for Northwest Territories children, youth, and families through the health and social services system. There are several voluntary support services in place that are based on the prevention of negative outcomes. Community social workers are available to assist individuals and families in accessing them.

Through a voluntary support services agreement, children, youth, and their caregivers can receive help without parents giving up their legal rights and responsibilities for their...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I just want to clear up the word "antidote." There isn't an antidote for rabies. But there is a vaccine, and it's available in each health centre or hospital pharmacy and emergency room in the NWT. And anyone who might potentially have contact with wild animals, for example, again, hunters and trappers, can go to their health care provider and ask to have this preexposure vaccination before they go out on the land. So that is an option that people who are working far away from health centres might want to consider. And even if they do end up...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You did that yesterday too. Mr. Speaker, I don't have a full grasp on what is required to recruit doctors. But I think it's a fairly specialized a fairly specialized skill. NTH SSA has capacity to do it. They have contacts. They, as I mentioned, go to the career fairs and so on. So I guess my question about Hay River taking over the recruitment of doctors is whether Hay River Health and Social Services Authority has the capacity to do that. Do they have staff who are skilled and available. And my other question would be whether the economies of scale would work. So for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't think it's an either/or. I think it's an and so the doctor may have a preference to go to a particular community. There are locums who go to the same community time and time again. But there is also a triage applied to where doctors are needed. So the highest priority always is the Stanton emergency room because all of the regional health centres and acute care centres call into Stanton for advice on dealing with emergencies. So there is some discretion by the doctor and also some need to ask doctors to come to the emergency room in Yellowknife...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be joined by constituents today Maureen Van Overliw and her children Holland and Everett. Thank you for joining us today on International Women's Day.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize that this is a serious issue, and I look forward to hearing what public health has to say about dog vaccinations. I understand that that would be beneficial. There are lots of dogs in the NWT and lots of dog/fox interactions. Even where I live in Yellowknife, the foxes live in a den on the sliding hill, and myself and my neighbours all have dogs. So it is a serious issue. I mean, fortunately in Yellowknife we have vet clinics and so vaccines are easy enough to get. And I know the SPCA has tried to expand vaccinations out into the communities. But there hasn't...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, not to be facetious, but it really depends where they are. If that's a hunter or a trapper out on the land, it could take some time for that person to get into a community with a health centre and be assessed for the exposure. If they're in the town already or a community, then obviously it would be a lot faster. So if somebody has been exposed, whether that's a bite or a scratch, so in contact with the mucus membranes, the eyes, the mouth, the nose of the animal, then they should get themselves to their community health centre as soon as possible for...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that when the human resources people go to the career fairs, they talk about the NWT as a whole, and then people when they apply can potentially be directed if they don't have a particular preference about where to live to areas of greatest need. As I said, I know that there are relationships that develop between locums, and they continue returning to the same communities over and over again. That is certainly the best outcome. But there isn't a specific Hay River doctor recruitment campaign. It is done for the NWT as a whole. And, of course, the...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, doctors are hired centrally through the NTH SSA. The NTH SSA has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority to facilitate that. So the long story short is that it is an extremely competitive field at this point, and we are having trouble attracting doctors to come to the northern communities despite various incentives that we put in place, competitive pages, very handsome signing bonuses, and efforts that are made by human resources to attend I don't want to call them trade shows, but career fairs and that...