Julie Green

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are, according to my notes, two people under 60 who live at Woodland Manor, so it's two out of 23. I don't believe that the people who live in the assisted-living facilities' needs have specifically been taken into account in the long-term care. The long-term care is really about institutional care for elders who require high levels of nursing care on a day-to-day, 24-7 basis. Having said that, there is now a supported living review going on, the department has an RFP out to choose a contractor to do that, so that we can look at how we can, first of all...

Thank you for that question. It's not clear at this time whether the CPHO would make changes on a community-by-community basis. We do know that, in the month of April, she's going in to review of the whole of the Emerging Wisely Plan to look at ways in which to ease restrictions. Certainly, the vaccine rate will figure into that. The rate that we've all been discussing is 75 percent. I think that that rate is now in question to some extent, given changing situations such as the variants and how transmissible they are, vaccine uptake, a number of other things that may change the immunity level...

The long-term care facilities are located or will be located in hubs where there is a greater medical staff presence and also a greater opportunity to recruit and retain nurses, but a physician is not essential. I think about the long-term care centre in Norman Wells. I don't believe Norman Wells has a doctor, but there is long-term care there. I think it's a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.

I would like to just say a word about the catchment area for Hay River. Kakisa and Fort Providence are within the Deh Cho Health and Social Services Authority area, and so generally speaking, they are served out of Fort Simpson, which is the headquarters for that authority; Fort Resolution is within the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority, so they are served from Yellowknife. The Hay River long-term-care bed projections are based on the Town of Hay River, K'atlodeeche First Nation, and Enterprise.

What we know about the occupation of the beds right now is that, at the extended care...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that this is a genuine engagement. We do want to verify the numbers with residents of Hay River, and we plan to meet with the town council, the seniors' society, and with the Indigenous organizations. We want to make sure that we haven't overlooked or missed anything that is important to the calculation of these numbers, so I'm going to say this is a genuine way of getting community input into this. I don't know what the end result is, but I also ask the Member to keep an open mind that, in fact, 48 institutional beds may not be the best outcome...

It is my understanding that, in doing that report, the Bureau of Statistics looked at issues such as the age of people going into long-term care; what their health status was going into long-term care; how much time they spent in long-term care; which community they were from and which community they want into long-term care in, which are sometimes different. They looked, certainly, at the comorbidities, as we say, more than one chronic disease, that drive people into the requirement for higher-level nursing care and thus into long-term care. I feel confident that the health of the population...

I'm happy to report that this work is on track. We've had a total of 14 marketing and advertising campaigns for the hard-to-fill Health and Social Services positions in the last three months, including nine of these campaigns that are specific to nurses. We've expanded the Health and Social Services professions career guide, which provides information for potential candidates about careers in Health and Social Services in the Northwest Territories. We have education, continuing education initiatives for licenced practical nurses and RNs through the targeted academic support program. We also...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Exit surveys are not consistently used, so I am unable to answer that question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Member for that question. Yes, Emerging Wisely is still the guiding document produced in May of last year. We know that there were a number of exemptions requested where items that were supposed to be loosened in phase 3 were loosened in phase 2, the phase that we are in now. What we're talking about is when we get into phase 3, and that is the work that will go on in April. Thank you.

I am happy to repeat this point. The first restrictions that will be loosened will be those within our border. Those will concern greater capacity within your home, within your community gatherings, and at business locations. Once that happens, and the other data is in place about vaccine uptake, transmissibility, children being vaccinated, and so on, then the Chief Public Health Officer will look at how to modify and when to modify self-isolation requirements.