Tom Beaulieu

We didn’t think of on-line questions to work in alongside of this forum, but it’s a good idea. I’ll discuss that with the forum in the morning when I meet with them.

If this is an issue, and I believe it is – the Member is bringing this up and we don’t want that to continue – I will talk to the department and we will relay the message to the authorities that we need to make some changes so that this type of thing, where an elder has to leave a community to go get a prescription drug, is a common thing that is renewed all of the time. Making them jump through some hoops in order to get a prescription is not necessary. We will address that issue. Thank you.

The initial meeting, which starts tomorrow and then will go all day tomorrow and Saturday, they are going to sit down and this is going to be their very first initial meeting. This is a new thing. They’re going to determine what is the best method of getting information. It’s possible that in some cases they will be seeking a lot of recommendations and a lot of information. I think they’re also going to put some stuff together that will provoke discussion in the right direction.

When we get the information back from the communities, when the communities tell us that this is the solution, then we’re going to assume that those are going to be the solutions. One of the best ways that I found in my past to come up with a solution is to go ask where the problem is. This is what we’re doing. We’re going back to the communities and we’re asking them to come up with a solution. I think it’s worked in the past when this type of thing has been requested of the communities and the communities want to come up with the solutions. Once the recommendations, I guess we’ll call it at...

The forum? It costs $300,000. That’s our budget and we will be getting the money from the federal government to cover the cost. Thank you.

Interestingly enough, I believe that there is an actual cost benefit to this type of surgery in the system. As the Member indicated, all of the reduction in medications and healthier life for individuals and everything, I believe that there is a cost benefit to this type of thing. Weighing those options, I would look into what it would take to see if the system can take a serious look at the laparoscopic adjustment band surgery.

Our activities, when we’re dealing with patients of any location in the Northwest Territories, is to use the clinical guideline practices and that if an individual comes in, the nurse is obligated to give them an examination. If they determine that it’s something minor and they can give them some medication, then that may be a decision, but otherwise, they should be following the policy. It’s being monitored by our Health and Social Services department with the health and social services authorities across the North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess not so much as a policy but more of a clinical practice. A decision as to when the patient is released is a clinical decision made by the physician that’s responsible for that patient.

We’re not thinking about paying for midwifery by building flexibility into the physician funding. That would be presented to the Legislative Assembly as an increase to O and M when the Midwifery Program is ready to go ahead in Hay River.

We may have that type of poster in the health authorities. I’m not aware of that, but if we don’t, we should. I think that after today I will advise the deputy minister to contact the health authorities to ensure that these posters are in all of our health centres across the North, advising people that it would be a good idea to have medical travel insurance.

I didn’t know you could buy sort of like an annual medical travel insurance. That would be even better. It’s usually per trip, but if you can buy something on an annual basis, much better.