Yes, it will take time in various areas, but we, as a department, will be working closely with the daycare operators because we want those individuals to achieve their goals and dreams of either certification, diploma or a degree program. We will be establishing up to 10 $5,000 scholarships for these individuals to access. So we’re doing what we can to send those individuals out while they’re still working. So, obviously we want to create some incentives. That’s what we’re doing and this is a process where we are currently working with the operators at this point in time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regard to my opening Member’s statement about suicides.
The first question is: Do the health authorities keep track of self-inflicted visits to emergency rooms that can potentially lead to suicide? Does the department or authorities keep those kinds of statistics? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. With regard to the statistics related to attempted suicides, data would actually be incredibly difficult to collect because there are multiple diagnoses that an individual coming in who has attempted suicide or believed to have attempted suicide might come in with. Client diagnosis codes would often be related to the method of attempted suicide, how somebody chooses to attempt to take their own life. So, there would be multiple different codes that would be used. So, as a result, it would be very difficult to provide that information. Thank you.
The reason I bring this up is we do have a Mental Health Act that does allow for physicians and practitioners to hold an individual for up to 24 hours, that’s the first step, and in a lot of cases, should there be alcohol involved, sometimes the individuals are let out of the care and treatment of the health centre or the hospital, and that’s why these kind of statistics would be good to help develop a better plan of action in terms of what steps can the authorities or the hospitals do or the health centres do to keep these people in care until they are ready to get a full assessment.
I’d like to ask the Minister, does the department have a suicide prevention plan currently that they can put into action here? Does the department have a suicide prevention plan?
There are a number of different things that happen depending on the location you’re at. The NWT Community Counselling Standards Manual has a standard on crisis intervention, which would respond to crisis situations similar to suicide or attempted suicide. The standard identifies suicide protocols and procedures for action to be taken, documentation and screening, such as the mental status examination and suicide risk assessments. So those happen in the community if somebody presents with an attempted suicide. The manual also includes suicide prevention resources that an individual may access.
When it comes to Stanton and/or the Inuvik Regional Hospital, there are some additional things that may happen. When a client presents to the hospital – Stanton, that is – having attempted suicide, medical stabilization and care is the first priority. We want to make sure the person is safe. Following stabilization, a referral to an appropriate psychiatric service is initiated and the psychiatric unit at Stanton Hospital have a suicide precaution policy, which includes suicide risk assessment.
Within the Inuvik Regional Hospital, a standardized assessment tool is used for conducting suicide risk assessment. Clients who have been medevaced from an outlying community are often admitted to the hospital for 24 hours of observation and then risk assessments are conducted on the individual and the risk assessments also must include a plan of care. So, depending on where you are, different things will happen, but there are protocols and programs in place to support all those individuals.
Thank you. You’ve heard in this House before there’s been a call from some of the Members that represent small communities for an RCMP officer and nurse. As I stated, we have 65 councillors in 19 communities but we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories, and in some of these communities we only have a nurse that can provide that type of care or services or even counselling.
Being this is such a big issue, and not looking at it this way when a person really needs that help for some intervention, how is the Minister going to address not having that nurse or that counsellor in a small community for the immediate responses that sometimes we don’t always see because of the lack of resources that we have in some of these small communities?
I recognize from the Member’s earlier statements that obviously face to face is preferable. That is not always the case, but we do have an ability to have individuals call certain professionals and receive services by telephone or by telehealth. But it’s not just a matter of the professional provider. We are eager and interested in helping individuals within communities develop skills so that they can provide support to the individuals. One of the things that we are doing is Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, which we are offering across the Northwest Territories.
As you all know, ASIST is an internationally recognized, well-researched training program that is based on best practices in suicide prevention and intervention. It is a two-day workshop, and we are looking to have it delivered across the Territories for any individual who wishes to take it so that they can be aware of the signs of individuals who may be at risk, so we would continue to get that out there for all people.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. That training program, ASIST, I have heard nothing but good things about it.
Would the Minister, in terms of that training, look at possibly putting that program in the areas where we don’t have a nurse or we don’t have an RCMP officer as a priority of the first places that we get that training to? Would he do that, and also, if he can also maybe share with the House how many communities actually do have that ASIST training in place right now?
The ASIST program, we have put dollars in the budget so that every authority can deliver two ASIST programs or two training workshops. To date, in ’12, ’13, ‘14, 144 individuals across the Northwest Territories have taken that training, and we will continue to encourage the authorities to use the dollars they have received to deliver that program in as many communities as they can over time.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. The Minister for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Premier today. I’d like to start by noting that a democracy works best when all citizens are able to speak their minds.
Would the Premier not agree that we should welcome respectful input from everyone if we want to get the best result?
The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.
Madam Speaker, that depends on the question. Thank you.
We have roughly 10,000 households in the Northwest Territories and at least 4,000 GNWT employees at any one time given our 10 percent vacancy. This means that potentially almost 40 percent of households could include a person directly employed by GNWT.
Would the Premier agree that GNWT employees and their families make up a significant portion of informed citizens of the NWT?
I guess it depends if you figure that 50 percent makes up a significant portion.
In reflection, I have to be quite disappointed that the Premier is not willing to welcome any input from our citizens on the issues that our people face. That’s shocking to me. It depends on what the question is on whether he is interested or not, so that’s a bit shocking, but let’s go with it.
With so many informed and caring citizens in our employment, and I assure the Premier, and although he sounds doubtful that we do have a significant number, there is some concern that GNWT may be tempted to silence public debate by preventing GNWT employees from expressing their opinions, even when the topic is not directly related to their job.
Can the Premier reassure us here in the House that the GNWT does, in fact, encourage its employees to participate in public debate on issues?
Finally, a question that I can answer. All GNWT employees sign a code of ethics when they enter into employment with this government, and as part of that code of ethics they have to adhere to certain principles and criteria, and I’m sure the honourable Member would be the first to cry out loud and clear if an employee of the Government of the Northwest Territories would come out and directly criticize it.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I hope the Premier doesn’t think that he thinks for me, but I would like to ask our reluctant Premier my last question here.
There is currently a petition on the Legislative Assembly website. Could the Premier please reassure our employees that they will not face any recriminations if they wish to sign that petition? It’s not criticizing the government; it’s asking the government for action.
I’m not aware of any petition on any website.
Thank you, Premier McLeod. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement earlier. Falls are the most common cause of injures among senior citizens and our elders, and the top reason for admission for trauma. Falls account for 85 percent of all fractures among people aged 65 years and older and the top fracture being hips.
I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, do we have any protocols or procedures for treating seniors who fall? I think, in particular, as well, in my Member’s statement I also raised the concern of the family that only one X-ray was taken. Is this part of the procedure?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. There were two questions there, and I will try to answer both of them. The department works in partnership with the NWT Recreation and Parks Association to support training for community-based workers and activities that enhance independence and quality of life for elders. Research has identified several key areas to promote healthy aging, including physical activity and falls prevention, and falls prevention being of particular interest. In conjunction with Elders in Motion training gathering, the department and regional staff are developing a territorial falls prevention program as part of promoting independence of our elders through prevention of injuries, so things are happening on that front.
With respect to standard protocols or clinical governance or clinical guidelines, this is an area that we obviously need to do significantly more work in the Northwest Territories. We have a number of authorities who have different protocols within their mandate. We have recently hired a chief clinical advisor who is going to be providing leadership on clinical governance throughout the system and trying to set some standards with respect to the exact type of thing the Member is talking about across all authorities.
My constituency has all small and remote communities. The Minister is talking about a protocol. I would also like to raise the issue of getting medical attention through medevacs should be part of that protocol, because had my constituent been medevaced immediately for a proper and thorough examination, I don’t feel that she would have gone through this pain.
Also, in fact, why aren’t we doing proper medical examinations at our local health centres? Thank you.
I certainly can’t talk to any individual case, but I do know we have highly competent professionals throughout the system who are doing great work in all communities, all regions and all facilities within the Northwest Territories. I can’t, obviously, speak to the individual case, but clinical guidelines would certainly be helpful across the Northwest Territories.
With respect to things like medevacs, we are doing things like Med-Response, which we hope to see roll out shortly, which are going to give communities a voice to a professional who is going to be able to streamline, coordinate and make medevacs more seamless and more timely. After all, what we are interested in is better health, better care and a better future for all of our residents. Thank you.
I think by improving our system, we do that by creating statistics. In fact, does the department keep track of incorrect diagnoses in our individual centres? If not, why isn’t this information being recorded? Thank you.
I don’t know if those types of statistics are kept. I will check with the department and get back to the Member. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just want to get back to the first issue. Many, many of our seniors are falling and fracturing bones. I think that our medical health system should pay attention to that.
So, I’d like to ask the Minister once again, how can the department do this? The family wants to be sure that people do not get hurt and misdiagnosed and lay at home for three days. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I agree. There are, as I’ve indicated, a number of things that are happening. I talked about the training that’s available for elders across the Northwest Territories with respect to prevention and injury, especially from fall prevention. This year the department is supporting training in 28 communities as part of the Elders in Motion program, so there is education out there to help individuals attempt to avoid experiencing a fall.
I’m going to come back to my other response, Madam Speaker. We need consistent clinical guidelines across the system. We have a chief clinical advisor who is helping us with this. We’ll work with all authorities to put together clinical guidelines that give the practitioners, whether it’s nurses or physicians, the tools they need to properly diagnose and provide the best care possible to all our residents, which is what we want. We want better health, better care and better results. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, a follow-up from my Member’s statement.
I’d like to ask the Minister, is the Minister in support of preventative safety measures to protect school children from dangerous situations? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Totally I am in support of students as first priority when it comes to safety. These are some of the discussions that have been brought to our attention from Moose Kerr School. My department is working very closely with Public Works and Services, the Beaufort-Delta Divisional Education Council and also Moose Kerr school administrators and staff to investigate the circulation of the problem, which has become an issue since the Stanton store has been open for business. Those are some of the areas in discussion with those agencies and we will continue to find solutions for that. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
The Minister answered the first part of my two-part question. Will the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment commit to reviewing this unsafe situation at Moose Kerr School and will he ensure that a parking lot gets built? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
We are working diligently with various agencies like education councils, the school and Public Works and Services. Solutions to this problem are being considered and recommendations will be made to the Hamlet of Aklavik. The GNWT will participate in finding solutions that will be in the best interest of safety for the students and the public at large. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Until a parking lot is in place for the school in Aklavik, will the Minister work with the stakeholders in the Beaufort-Delta Education Council and the Aklavik District Education Authority to enhance safety measures for students at Moose Kerr School as an interim measure? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Those are targeted discussions that we are currently having with the various agencies, as I highlighted earlier, to deal with the measures in the communities, especially with the Hamlet of Aklavik. Recommendations and solutions will be brought to the Hamlet of Aklavik and we’ll work on those solutions. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. My final question for the Minister is: When can the residents of Aklavik see a parking lot built for the school in Aklavik? Thank you, Madam Speaker.
These are the discussions that we need to have with the community of Aklavik and the Beaufort-Delta Education Council and Public Works and Services as we move forward. These are the discussions we need to have about the needs of the community and also the school, but number one will be the safety of our students and the public safety. So, I will be keeping the Member informed of our progress. Mahsi, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
