Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, you know, I guess I'm confused. With diabetes, people see access outside of Yellowknife. They access the physician. They are able to get their prescriptions for their you know, the medication that they're on. They're able to get the you know, the necessary tools that they need to check their blood sugar. There's many this is available outside of Yellowknife. So I can look into further what patients, if they are travelling to Yellowknife for diabetes services but I you know, I'll just leave it at that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think Yellowknife has the dialysis for people that are in kidney failure, and I believe that the last last term, the Member from Hay River South advocated very hard for Hay River to have a dialysis and that is currently running there. But as for diabetes and services, you know, outside of Yellowknife, the, you know, access to diabetes information, there the hospitals in Inuvik and Hay River, the health centre in Fort Smith, the you know, the community health centres. And, again, like I said, home care works with a lot of our diabetes patients and the diabetes...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that specific detail I don't have here, but I'm willing to work with the Member and all Members in that hence to get that information and provide it back to the Member on the permanent how many permanent health care nurses that we do have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, I can't understate the challenge that we face in the Northwest Territories. You know, I assure this House that we are actively working to improve health care. I've had many discussions with my staff. I've had discussions, you know, from what I've heard from other Members. And one of the discussions that I have been having is, you know, ensuring that we're looking at the communities and the model that we're providing in the communities, and that is something that I will be focusing on during my time as the Minister of health, is how, you know, the how...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize Shirley Elias. She's a constituent of mine. She's also one of our interpreters. And I'd also like to thank all the interpreters for this first sitting of the 20th Assembly, and I'm sorry if I spoke too fast, and I'll try to remember to slow down. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes and I'm glad that the Member you know, we work closely with Alberta Health Services' dialysis service to provide this service using their policies and stuff, and they do take training to be dialysis nurses. So it's the same as we have an endoscopy unit, we have to have trained staff to run that endoscopy unit. Like, those it's more than just hiring a nurse. And I've said it, and I'll say it again, a nurse is not a nurse is not a nurse. Everybody has a specialty, and that's why we struggle in our health care providing the right service for the right people...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having the dialysis equipment in Inuvik, you know, we have a lot of people that might need that have kidney disease but not all of them, and then I think in the territories we have 568 residents living with some degree of kidney disease, and then 87 clients with stage 4/5 renal disease, and those are the people that are potentially, if not already, on dialysis. Yellowknife has the capacity for a certain amount. Hay River, I think, is they are at capacity now. And, you know, what I'm willing to do for the Member is to review how many clients, you know, in...

Yes. Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure I understand if the question is the direction from the headquarters or because in all of the regions, we have regional diabetes educators. We have community health representative workers that work with you know, with health promotion and health in that area so if the you know, if there's a specific question, I would try to get the answer for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, I will commit to doing that and making sure that there is some kind of information that can go out to Members and to  a communique on how this list is monitored. Thank you.