Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lots of things about the North and how we deliver programs and services to our constituents is very unique to the North. Many rural and remote communities and, in fact, all of our communities have to occasionally rely on an employee, the use of medical evacuation charters. It is nothing like being in a large urban centre with a hospital where family and friends can support a family member through a medical emergency. It’s not even a given that a family member can fly later in a timely manner or travel by road if it is an off-road community, or can necessarily afford a flight or a road trip to accompany a loved one that has had to be taken out for medical assistance in emergency situations.
These times of medical emergency are often emotionally charged, or added to the stress of the threat to health and well-being, the separation from the moral support and calming support of loved ones. The patient is placed in a strange environment, not knowing what their future holds.
I’m not talking about medical escorts; I am talking about a plane that is transporting a patient in which there may be room for someone to accompany that patient. These charters are extremely expensive, and of course, we are thankful that our government freely provides this service to our constituents when a medical evacuation is necessary.
Today I am going to have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services as to what this government’s policy is about family members accompanying, or one person accompanying a family member that’s on a medical evacuation. If this is not the policy of this government and if this cannot be accommodated, I’d like to know why. We need to do things that make common sense. I can understand that if there is medical equipment or other medical personnel on that plane and there was no room, then certainly the safety and well-being of the patient takes priority. But if there is room for a family member to accompany a patient to a regional or territorial centre or to Edmonton or from Edmonton on a medical evacuation charter, I think that common sense should prevail.
I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services about this. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
