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.
