Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that service will still be available and needed. Midwifery will not replace that. Midwifery will be a complementary practice.
So it will be a complementary service and it will be optional. People could still have their choice of being in a hospital and going through child delivery in what I’ll call kind of a more conventional sense. Midwifery is an optional, additional, supplementary service that will be operated. I keep hearing people say let’s roll it out, let’s roll it out faster. I don’t want to see it roll out and then have to roll up because we didn’t lay the necessary groundwork. There seems to be some confusion about protocol, about best practices, about liability, about all of the issues that need to be addressed and the backup and support. There seems to be a lot of question out there about where we’re at with the model. Now, we know that it’s been happening in Fort Smith for a long time, but maybe the Minister could bring some clarity to the kind of groundwork that needs to be laid before this service can be rolled out in a community like Hay River.
Just to make it simple, I think one of the key things is developing midwifery regulations. The thing with it is to ensure that the model would work effectively and would be beneficial to the region. Once the health centre is built, Hay River is going to be like a small regional operation as opposed to just a community operation like it is in Fort Smith. That is why we are rolling it out in that fashion. The next step after that would be a larger regional operation, or people grabbing midwife services in Inuvik would be coming from further away, so the visits are different and the care is different. It’s going to be that type of service.
So then one of the questions that begs to be answered and I’m hearing in various places is: If we have to have midwifery regulations in place first, how is it then that Fort Smith has operated with midwives and midwifery services for all the years that it has, but when it comes to Hay River we have to create new regulations? I’m not saying that we don’t, I just want people to understand why that’s necessary.
The regulations being developed for Hay River, again, would be a regulation that’s developed so that the midwife services are delivered on a regional basis but not the full regional basis. We are trying to, as we’re getting the new hospital and health centre in Hay River, then we’re going to roll midwifery services into that facility and there will be more regulations developed in order to do a regional and, ultimately, a territorial one that will be based out of Yellowknife. That is the reason that we’re rolling it out in that way.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the foundational pieces to expanding midwifery services in the Northwest Territories is going to be the engagement of a midwifery consultant. Perhaps the Minister, for our benefit, could also explain what the role of that consultant’s position will be.
At this point we are thinking of approaching the midwives that are in Fort Smith to talk to us about how the program functions in Fort Smith. Right now the midwives have been doing deliveries in Fort Smith for the last several years, I think since 2005 when those regulations were developed for the community of Fort Smith. Now that they have doctors in Fort Smith, how that will change and how the system will work with doctors and how the system would work without doctors. The role of the midwives would be to give us the on-the-ground information on what works and what does not work. We’re hoping to use the current midwives to do that.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on questions that Ms. Bisaro was asking about bariatric surgery and weight loss program to the Minister of Health. He has indicated he has a committee and they’re doing some reviews. I’m looking for a timeline when we can see some implementation to the changing of the act and the funding of these types of surgeries.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once the determination has been made that we will add this bariatric care or obesity or in the whole area of those being overweight to the insured services and how we deal with obesity into insured services, then we will make a decision on when and how we will go through the process. Part of the process would be if an insured service is added, then it will be more cost. Once that determination is made by the Medical Association and by the department that bariatric services will be added, then we will come back to the House for more money to carry out that service.
I appreciate the Minister’s answer, but in that answer there’s no indication of any kind of timeline. Are we expecting to see this in a month? Three months? Are we expecting to see it in the fall? Or are we going to deal with it in another Assembly?
I don’t want to be throwing out dates guessing at these things. All I can say is that bariatric surgery is on the agenda for the team of individuals or the committee that has the NWT Medical Association and the department on it looking at the system now. I’m hoping that it doesn’t take years to come out with something. However long it does take, it would be once we’ve decided that this would be an insured service in the system, then we come back through the regular business planning process. However long it takes for us to add this and get this approved through the business planning process, considering all the other pressures on the system, then we will have a better idea of when this can be approved. It may be in the next business cycle. If it’s in the next business cycle, it will be a year from now.
I appreciate the timeline there. I’d also like to ask the Minister if, to speed the process up, they have looked at any other jurisdictions such as Alberta and Quebec who are funding some of these types of surgeries.
I don’t have that information, but I’m assuming that when we move into any area that may have already been covered by other jurisdictions that we do look at best practices. If we haven’t looked at best practices, then I’ll ask the committee to look at best practices in this area.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no further questions but I do look forward to seeing that happen sooner than later.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise once again as a follow-up on my Member’s statement earlier today on last week’s devastating deadly highway crash north of Fort Providence. Again, our hearts do go out to the families involved.
As in my last question with the Minister of Health and Social Services, my questions will not deal directly with the accident itself as it is still under RCMP investigation. However, they will deal with the level of first responder care, patient immobilization and highway medical transport in the NWT. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs.
Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs indicate 33 communities in the NWT have proper ambulance or a van ambulance that has all the safety standards to secure, immobilize and transport victims in the event of a highway accident?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not sure of the exact number; however, I would assume that in places like Yellowknife and Hay River and those on the highway system with properly trained first responders would have ambulance services.
The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs has commented, many times in this House, on the incomplete emergency action plans of the NWT communities. Can the Minister also indicate if all 33 communities have roadside emergency action plans in the event of a highway crash?
I do know that we have 33 communities in the Northwest Territories. We have 16 of them that do have updated emergency plans, we have 15 that have emergency plans that need to be updated, and we have two communities without any type of emergency plan at all.
I appreciate the Minister with those statistics. Can the Minister indicate what is the policy, really, to road emergencies between Yellowknife and Fort Providence, who are the exact care providers and what services are being offered?
As far as the policy goes, if there is an accident on the highway such as there was last week, I mean, first of all, being good neighbours that NWT people are, they will respond to accidents and do what they can to assist. As far as whose jurisdiction that is, that is a question that I’m not sure about. We would like to think that our communities would be equipped to deal with situations on the highway, and that’s part of how we’re going to do business now. The plan, through MACA, is to offer training to those that want to be qualified as first responders, and that way that will enable them to get the proper equipment and they’d be able to go out and respond to an accident. They’ll respond to an accident and then we’ll worry about the jurisdiction later.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is evident that the Yellowknife Fire Department has well-trained staff that are NFPA 1001 certified, and that could provide a level of rescue and care along the entire length of Highway No. 3. Has the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs or the Minister considered a formal policy to contract these services in the absence of any formal emergency action plan along this stretch of highway?
We will have a discussion within the department and then we can further that up with a discussion, if need be, with the folks in Yellowknife, because they do have a lot of qualified personnel here.
At the end of the day, our goal is to have qualified first responders in many of the highway communities in the Northwest Territories, then they would be better equipped dealing with emergencies such as this and other such emergencies involving vehicles on the highway.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to ask questions again of the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it’s along the lines, as well, about the lack of services for being able to have babies in Hay River. It’s not on the midwifery line.
It’s going to be a while before we probably have resident doctors in Hay River who have the credentials that would allow us to allow our residents of Hay River to have their children in Hay River. That being the case, they have to come to Yellowknife or they can go someplace else, but most do come to Yellowknife. They have to come three weeks before their due date. I believe they receive a $50 per day allowance or they can stay at the Vital Abel Boarding Home. This boarding home, although it may be a wonderful service, is in a very out of the way location, and it is not convenient unless you want to be down there the whole time. It costs a lot for cabs and so on.
I have an idea. For those coming from Hay River, $50 is a long ways from the cost of any hotel room in Yellowknife. I would like to ask the Minister if his department has ever entertained the idea of having some form of a residence here in Yellowknife that could be accessed by expectant families coming into Yellowknife to await the arrival of a baby.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe that we have examined the possibility of having a residence for expecting mothers here in Yellowknife to accommodate mothers from out of the communities.
Does he know what the per diem cost to this government is of the Vital Abel Boarding Home? If someone was going there to await the arrival of a baby and they were there for three weeks, there must be a cost to this government on a daily basis. Does he know what that cost would be?
I don’t have the daily cost of the individuals to stay at Vital Abel, but I can easily get that information for the Member.
I’m going to guess that that per diem cost per patient is not a small amount of money, and I also think that there is probably a fair amount of uptake of beds in that facility. When you look at a community the size of Hay River, which is the second largest community in the Northwest Territories, and the number of people that have to come over here and pay out of their pockets causing financial stress, I think that we need to do a cost-benefit analysis of some other form of accommodation for expectant mothers when they come here that is perhaps specific to Hay River or specific to communities outside of Yellowknife besides the Vital Abel option.
Hopefully, by the time we look at the cost of trying to get a residence in Hay River we would have the new health centre functioning with doctors and midwives, hopefully. But I have no issue with looking at the possibility and examining what the costs of Vital Abel are and what it would cost to provide that service for Hay River.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for those answers. I want to tell him that I’d be very happy to work with him on that. I think that we are hopeful we will have doctors. I’m hopeful we’ll have midwives. I’m hopeful we’ll have a lot of services that won’t require people to travel. But in the meantime, even a rented residence dedicated to offsetting the costs of expectant mothers waiting here in Yellowknife to have babies would be great, so I would just like to offer to help him work on that cost- benefit analysis.
As we examine this possibility, we will work with the Member to look at the costs and so on.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services related to the lack of infrastructure in the NWT to house adults with many different disabilities.
Please provide information, by community, about NWT residents in need of independent, 24/7 supported living housing.
Please provide information on all waitlists for independent supported living housing, with particular regard to Yellowknife.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table a document, a picture I took which demonstrates that regular gas is sold at $1.389 per litre here in Yellowknife and continues to underscore my issue with gas prices. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Moses.
