Sandy Lee

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, November 2, 2009, I will move that Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Child and Family Services Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I could advise the Members that as soon as we got the shipments of vaccines, they were transported to Inuvik so that we are prepared to deal with all of the areas from Inuvik. From Inuvik, vaccines are being transported by hand by a nurse, because the vaccines are very temperature sensitive so they can’t be shipped on the plane. The temperatures have to be monitored. They are being distributed into health centres in many different ways, but they are handled by nurses. The action teams are going into communities. As well, visiting regularly scheduled nurses are going...

This plan will be released next week and there are three important pillars in this plan. One of them is accessibility. What we are wanting to do and what we recognize is that Northerners need to be able to access the right health care and know where and how to find it. We want to focus our attention on a primary community care model where focus and attention will be on each community, and in each community we will work to establish a chronic management program that is organized, that is comprehensive, so that we keep track of diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and we step up to the plate on...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise the House that in the Foundation for Change Action Plan we have a precise action identified in this area. One is to establish a chronic disease management model for the NWT which would work to upgrade the screening program for chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancers. We will also be looking to address colorectal cancer through staged screening of stool samples. We will also be looking at implementing a territorial screening mammography program and increase education about modifiable risk factors and screening.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 3, Medical Profession Act, be read for the first time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the latest information we have is that Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk and Sachs Harbour will start vaccinating next week, starting Monday. Mr. Speaker, also I have to say that our health staff and the Territorial Emergency Response Committee have done a spectacular job. As of yesterday, we have vaccinated 7,445 people. This in comparison to 10,000 that Ontario was able to vaccinate in three days; so given the size, geography and challenges we have, I have to say kudos to the people who are involved in this. They are really stepping up to the plate. We are moving fast. We are moving quickly...

I am aware that we have done such a program, especially for colorectal cancer screening. In fact, the focus was in the Deh Cho region where a coordinator went in to the region and worked with the men in the area, and encouraged everybody to go through the screening as a preventative measure. So that’s the kind of thing that we hope to be able to do more of in this new plan.

I should note that that action plan, the timeline for that is it’s a three-year plan to expand our work in all of these areas. Currently, we do have a screening program for breast cancer, we do have a screening program for colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and also, obviously, our health care staff in all our regions do their best to respond when the residents do come and raise their health issues.

Mr. Speaker, the NWT chief medical health officer and myself were on CKLB this morning for two hours and we had excellent questions from people from all over the communities, all over the regions. Mr. Speaker, I am aware of not just elders in the communities, but in many quarters of our Territory people are seeking information. I would like to encourage all residents to find out where the flu clinic will be in their community and if they have any questions, including the elders, that they ask the staff those questions and that they get those answers. Then when they are comfortable with getting...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 1-888, triple eight, number for the flu line as well as Health Line have services available in official languages. Thank you.