Sandy Lee

I am willing, if the Member provides me with the name of the family and the drug brand again, to review the file. I’m not saying that I can override the committee’s decision, but at least I can look into making sure that if this medication is not suitable or they’re not willing to approve it, what other options are there. I just want to make sure that his constituent is taken care of as much as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We get this kind of request often. There are disputes between patients who feel that they need medication and a doctor who may feel that they need the medication, but there is an independent committee that reviews the list of pharmaceutical products or drugs that we should approve. It is the committee that makes a decision on whether a drug should be approved for insurance or not. That is the process that’s in place, and I don’t know what else to say to that.

I would be happy to look into the possibility of increasing the time that the nurse visits the community of Wrigley, especially at the time of freeze-up and breakup. I know that the community was very happy to have a nurse there during the time we were there. I understand that the people feel more comfortable when they have a resident nurse. I will review the hours of other services that are provided in Wrigley and see how we could improve that. We have a continuing discussion with the authority, and I will continue to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had the opportunity to visit the community of Wrigley in May with the Member. We had a very productive meeting with the local leadership wherein one of the things that the chief and council asked for was to have a permanent nurse there.

I have had discussions with the Dehcho Health and Social Services Authority. We do have a fully functioning board and administration there, and their advice at this time is that Wrigley, for a community of its size and needs, has adequate services. They are recommending that we do not have a nurse placed there. Having said that that is...

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know if I’m making my point clearly here. The fact is I don’t think it’s prudent or responsible for the government to be funding a third party proposal at $30,000 to bring somebody in to do two training programs on how to use car seats if we can find resources from within.

What I’m telling the Member is that we have the entire health promotion section that works on injury prevention and how to use helmets safely. We rent out vests so as to prevent boating accidents, we distribute helmets for safe practices, and we do distribute car seats.

I think it’s not correct to say: why...

Mr. Speaker, the government and the Department of Health and Social Services take safety issues very seriously. We do public promotion, and we distribute vests, injury prevention measures. In cooperation with MACA and Transportation we distribute helmets for safety. In fact, we have distributed about 125 car seats. We have community health reps at the community level who work with parents to show them and teach them how to use their children’s car seats safely.

The way these are made…. It’s a modern machine and a lot more user-friendly than they used to be. I understand that there is a person...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Minister of Health and Social Services and on behalf of the government I would just like to put it on record that the government supports this bill. We have indicated that support to the Member in other venues, and we make the commitment that we’ll work with the Member to make sure that the details are worked out and supported by the Department of Health as we move forward.

I believe I’ll be making a formal presentation at the consultation process in committee, but I just wanted to put that on the record.

The elder in question who was taken away was in need of intensive care. We did have him in the community with the family, but his needs were so high that he could not be taken care of there.

I do understand and appreciate the need for the community to keep their elders, especially in their last years. We want to be able to accommodate that as much as possible. But there are some seniors with acute needs that need to be taken care of, and those services are not available except in major centres.

My understanding in terms of 24-7 care for seniors is that in order for us to provide those services...

The CHRs have been distributing car seats to families. They have distributed 125 car seats all across the Territories. My information is that they know how those car seats work, and they teach the parents how they work. They are qualified to provide this. If there’s a need for Yellowknife, I am willing to look at helping Yellowknife social services authorities see if we could have similar programming.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left is Mr. Gregory Cummings, deputy minister of Health and Social Services, and to my right is Ms. Kelly McLaughlin. She is the legislative counsel with the Department of Justice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.