Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
WHEREAS elders make up 9 percent of the population of the Northwest Territories and this population segment is increasing faster than the remainder of the population;
AND WHEREAS the aging population has an obvious need for long-term care facilities;
AND WHEREAS many elders contribute to their communities, teaching traditional skills and knowledge and helping sustain aboriginal languages;
AND WHEREAS when elders remain in their respective home communities they continue to have the support and company of their family and friends;
AND WHEREAS there is evidence of community need for long-term care facilities as demonstrated by recent correspondence from the Tetlit Gwich’in Council that indicated there were 123 elders over the age of 60 in Fort McPherson, of which 25 elders are between 80 and 96 years of age;
NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that the Government of the Northwest Territories develop a program for community long-term care facilities for elders and that funding for construction of such facilities be included in the 2011-2012 Capital Budget.
There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.
Mr. Speaker, I bring this motion forward at the request of the community of Fort McPherson, who has tabled in this Legislature a petition of almost 140 names and information that has been provided by way of the motion I have just presented from the Hamlet of Fort McPherson supporting this initiative.
To have 123 elders over the age of 60 shows that there is a very high percentage of elders in Fort McPherson. At the present time a lot of our elders have to leave their home communities to go into Aklavik, Inuvik, Yellowknife, and even Dawson City and Whitehorse. I think it’s about time that we as a government try to accommodate communities with high pockets of elders and provide this type of care for those elders so they can remain in their home communities and close to family members and friends.
Elders play an important role in the development of our communities by providing knowledge, guidance, and the support that a lot of elders give to the community leaders, schools, cultural groups, and youth groups. Fort McPherson has a very vibrant elders organization, the Elders Council of Fort McPherson, which is associated with the Youth Council of Fort McPherson. I think it’s critical that we start to find ways to work with the youth supported by the elders to direct our young people to making the right decisions and choices going forward. I think this is something this government has to seriously consider by looking at the whole area of health care. Not only health care, but housing in general. How do we house and sustain our healthy communities whether it’s a single family unit or how people age in our communities? I think often we simply look at elders as a segment of our population who eventually will find their way into our care facilities. But it seems like a lot of these facilities are designed and constructed in large urban centres like Fort Smith, Hay River, Yellowknife, and Inuvik. We have to facilitate those communities that show and demonstrate high pockets of elderly people in their communities and accommodate that segment of our population.
I would request support from my colleagues in the House. I think this is not unique to Fort McPherson and that elsewhere in the Northwest Territories we have to find programs and services to assist elders in our communities and provide them the care they need and show them the respect that they deserve.
With that, I look forward to the debate of other colleagues in the House and I would like to ask the Members to support this motion going forward.
The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As the seconder of this motion I am a strong supporter of providing as many services as we can to our small and remote communities. This is one of the needs that is consistent in my riding.
The motion speaks for our support of Fort McPherson. At the same time, I still believe it’s a strategy that our government has to work towards for all our smaller communities.
Our people have asked me time and time again for long-term care facilities in their communities and I believe that our strategy has to work towards that. I know that we certainly do have it in our regional centres. I know that it doesn’t have to be cost prohibitive. They’re not asking for major facilities. At the same time it would still be the centre of the community where we have our elders, the keepers of our traditional knowledge who wouldn’t have to leave their smaller communities for the larger centres. I believe it has lots of value for our communities.
With that, I’d just like to say I will certainly, as the seconder, be a strong proponent of this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Speaker, I will be in support of this motion also. It’s something that in the Sahtu region we have long hoped for from this government here in terms of seeing improved services and other services that other communities have in facilities and good programs.
I know we’ve been asked by the Sahtu on many occasions to see if there are ways to bring elders home from Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, or Inuvik back to their region, back to their homes. I know there are many elders that are in various programs in the Northwest Territories that deserve our utmost attention and support to see if we can give them as much support as possible in taking care of them and looking after them.
These elders that we talk about are the ones that really had a hard life on the land. But they also said they had a good life. They are also in a place now where it is up to us as leaders to look after them with respect to their home care, health care, and paying any type of power bills or NorthwesTel bills. They really need help. I don’t think these elders would do that to us if we ever went in the bush with them, they wouldn’t leave us and say make it on your own. I think we have to really change things around. I really like this motion and I would like to thank the Member for bringing it forward to seek support from the Members here.
In saying that, I want to just say let’s do something right for the elders and give them what they deserve. Let’s help them out in this day and age.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to add a few notes about the principles and policies behind the long-term care facility planning within the Department of Health and Social Services.
Persons currently placed in long-term care facilities in the NWT may be of any age. They may be placed in a facility specializing in a certain type of care. There are those who are severely disabled, cognitively impaired in early to advanced stages, frail and elderly and those who need respite care or palliative care in hospital settings or long-term care facilities.
As the Member has mentioned, our senior population is the fastest growing in comparison to enrolment in schools, for example, which we see is declining. There is no question that we need to work together to plan for this but we need to consider some options and the facts involved in this.
I believe most seniors and elders prefer choices that permit them to preserve their independence, quality of life, and personal dignity. Long-term care facilities, while an important service option for the most fragile, dependent, and ill, it’s not the first choice for most seniors. We currently admit individuals into long-term care based on their need. Their care needs, not their age. The need to institutionalize an individual is only an option when it is no longer possible for an individual to live independently in the community.
I’m 46 years old and in 14 short years I may be considered for an institutional setting, but I’m hoping that that’s not going to come. We shouldn’t be planning to keep too many people in institutional settings.
I have seen stats. Right now, we have about 10 percent of the population who are seniors, but in about 30 years we may have up to one-third of the population that’s over 60.
Mr. Speaker, long-term care facilities are designed to provide care for individuals with the highest level of care needs who cannot live independently even with assistance. The trend and delivery in long-term care is to increase community capacity and supports so that individuals can live in a non-institutional setting as long as possible. The department is working with the Department of Public Works and Services on a long-term care planning study. The intent is to develop a long-term care prototype and joint health centre for when current facilities need to be replaced. GNWT is developing facility design standards and prototype designs for long-term care facilities that will provide a basis for development of appropriate facilities in the future.
A prototype design will set the standard that will be used for all facilities to leverage the benefits of standardization and efficiency of building design, programming, staffing models and operational methods. Long-term care facilities will be designed with the flexibility to support aging in place once a person has been admitted to a facility. These new facilities will support implementation of client centre care and the supportive pathways approach which emphasizes providing a home-like approach, maximizing independence and quality of life.
Mr. Speaker, planning for long-term care facilities is aligned with the Foundation for Change directions of an integrative system in which residents of the NWT can access beds regardless of the region in which they live. By designing and building a prototype, the GNWT will not need to reinvent the wheel for every new facility but can redefine the prototype as experience is developed.
Integration of community-based services and...(inaudible)...links will be strengthened to enable persons with long-term care needs to move seamlessly from one service to another.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to leave with some of the stats about people who are admitted to long-term care facilities right now. Right now, the NWT admission criteria requires an applicant for long-term care to be 60 years of age or older, but the average age of admission is much, much older. For all long-term care admissions between 2005 and 2009, the average age of admission was 76.5 years. Of those, 47 percent of residents had some level of cognitive impairment and 72 percent of residents were classified as level 3 to 5. The remainder being level 1 and 2.
In 2004, the average age of admittance to a long-term care facility in southern jurisdictions was 85 years of age and the average length of stay was two years.
Mr. Speaker, I understand the motion that the government needs to plan for this, but I think we need to be careful about how we define the need for long-term care and that not everybody who turns 60 should be considered to be ready for this sort of setting. We will have to work together as a Legislature to make sure that we use our resources well, because each of these facilities will cost at least $12 million to $15 million. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. I will allow the mover of the motion to say some closing comments. Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I demonstrated, there’s 123 elders over the age of 60. Also in that statement, I also revealed that there is, from the ages of 80 to 96, 25 people. The elderly person is 96 years old.
Mr. Speaker, we realize that the fastest increasing population we have is the aged. At some point, we are going to have to deal with it. It is an issue that we are going to have to confront across Canada.
In the Northwest Territories, we are no different I believe we have to act now and find ways, as the Minister stated, to work together. This is a perfect opportunity. The community has illustrated a need. There are 123 individuals over the age of 60 and at some point in their life, they will need some form of care. I believe it’s those people, the 24 individuals over the age of 80, that can demonstrate a need in that community, so that we can accommodate, facilitate and, more importantly, deliver programs and services that are designed by a community for the community and has the support of the community. It has to have the ability to design a system we can use in other communities. Call it a pilot project. I think we have to get on with this issue, because it’s apparent we are being confronted with this issue whether it’s Fort McPherson, Fort Simpson or any other community up and down the valley.
I, for one, Mr. Speaker, am requesting a recorded vote. I request my colleagues to support me in this endeavour because on this issue, we have to deal with it head on and this is a good place to start. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The Member is requesting a recorded vote. All those in favour of the motion, please stand.
Recorded Vote
Mr. Bromley, Mr. Menicoche, Mr. Ramsay, Mrs. Groenewegen, Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Jacobson, Ms. Bisaro, Mr. Yakeleya.
All those opposed to the motion, please stand. All those abstaining, please stand.
Mr. Lafferty; Ms. Lee; Mr. Miltenberger; Mr. Roland; Mr. McLeod, Deh Cho; Mr. McLeod, Inuvik Twin Lakes; Mr. McLeod, Yellowknife South.
The results of the recorded vote: for, ten; against, zero; abstaining, seven. The motion is carried.
---Carried
