Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

We did not receive anything like that from any dentist.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Thank you. That is the ultimate way to go. We recognize that the doctors will be living in the communities where they’re serving, so that continues to be our push. When I talked to all of the Joint Senior Management Committee a couple of weeks ago, I did talk only about trying to get doctors into a community. The new CEO that will be coming on is very versed in bringing in and talking to doctors and trying to hire doctors and so on. We also have a support system in Health and Social Services that will help the communities and CEOs recruit doctors for their communities. That continues to be the...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

From our perspective, if the other dentists wish to practise in the NWT that would provide more services. We’re short dentists, as we hear in the Legislative Assembly frequently, so we would welcome other dentists to come in and practise.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

No, it’s not essential that we wait for the health centre to be completed in order to have some sort of board structure. The public administrator and I did discuss that possibility. He recommended that we start off by maybe asking a couple of people from Hay River on the recommendation of maybe even the municipality, the MLAs or even the Aboriginal organizations’ area to appoint people that he could start working with and having some discussions. That’s something that we are currently contemplating. I’ve had my first discussion on that type of structure, I would say, about two months ago with...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This will only prevent us from not registering a dentist from practising in the NWT as opposed to specific community by community but for the whole territory as a whole.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Mr. Speaker, this Assembly is committed to investing in prevention to keep our health system sustainable. Vaccines are a cornerstone of preventative medicine and I would like to encourage all Northwest Territories residents to get their free flu shots this fall.

Immunization prevents influenza and its serious complications. It protects individuals and families from severe illness. It contributes to the health of the population, by preventing time-loss at work and keeping children at school.

You need the flu shot every year. The influenza viruses change continuously and each year’s vaccine has...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I rise in favour of the motion today. I recognize that this is a very serious matter for some families. As indicated, I think sometimes the loss of a very young child goes almost unnoticed by the general population, even if it’s in the communities. But it never goes unnoticed or is forgotten by the parents.

I knew a young lady as a young mother who lost a child, and 30 years later it was still on her mind, and her baby was 35 days old. This is direction to the Legislature that Cabinet will be voting in favour of the motion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Thank you. The Department of Health and Social Services is able to gather all of the information necessary to modernize the Medical Travel Policy and the Medical Travel Program. At this time, some of those issues are the exact things we’re trying to work out of the system. We recognize that medical travel is a very important part of people travelling to appointments because we can’t always bring the doctors to the people. So we are working with that, we’re looking at some electronic aids and so on that would be able to help sometimes and maybe divert medical travel. But at the end of the day...

Debates of , 17th Assembly, 4th Session (day 39)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Anyone travelling with medical travel, according to the policy, should have an after-hours number so that if an individual is returning from medical travel on Sunday, Saturday or a late night flight, then that individual is supposed to be equipped with an after-hours number if they cannot afford to get back home to their community. So if an individual is landing in Inuvik and they are from another community in the area, they would overnight in Inuvik in a boarding home. If they are from Inuvik, they are supposed to just jump in a cab, go home and be reimbursed. If they...