Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about the need for a sexual health program in Hay River. I wanted to ask the Minister if she was aware of a proposal that was submitted back in December of 2007 from the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority in this regard — I know we’re in a budget restraint time — and if there are any federal, or any, monies she may be aware of that could initiate this. In Hay River, as with many communities in Canada, we have a relatively unstable complement of physicians, and we have a high turnover in that area with locums. Building community capacity to deal with some of these health issues would be a great benefit.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of the proposal submitted by Hay River Health Authority to give them funding to deliver community-specific programs. The last time I talked to my officials, I believe that was under active consideration in an effort to put it into the next business-plan process. I could also advise the Member that we have been successful in getting some money from the Public Health Agency of Canada for a coordinator position for a three-year term. That position is starting this May. I don’t have a whole lot of details on that, but we are making some progress in that area.
With regard to this, I do applaud the efforts of the staff at the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority for coming up with some of these innovative programs. They have very good programs dealing with diabetes and some specialized areas that we see as emerging problems and issues.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if I could advise the authority and the people of Hay River that there would be a very good opportunity for such a program to be funded and staffed in our community.
Mr. Speaker, I could tell the Member we are actively considering that proposal from Hay River. I can’t give the Member an answer as to what the outcome of that might be. We are looking at a territorially coordinated approach to address STI concerns. We do have an STI strategy the department’s working on, and that includes looking at specific programs not only in Hay River but in the Tlicho area as well, where there is an active proposal coming forward.
We’re looking to expand the Tele-Care program to include STI components. There is some work being done to do some social marketing in this area. There is a lot of work being done to address this in a territorially coordinated way. I will undertake to get information from the department again as to exactly where we are with the Hay River proposal, but there is a coordinated approach being taken.
I’d like to ask the Minister: is there any precedent for any units within any other health authorities that are dealing specifically with this challenge?
Yes, the department has funded different programs and proposals such as the conference that the Dene Nation sponsored on STI issues, and the Tlicho community has their own proposal. We do have quasi-independent authorities who are interested in addressing some specific issues that are of more interest to their area. The department does pay attention to those.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Abernethy.
