Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services some questions about nursing services in the community of Wrigley. When the highway was first opened up, there were two nurses in Wrigley only because there was increased development expected from traffic, et cetera, in the community of Wrigley. Since then, the two nurses have been removed. They have been removed for well in excess of 10 years now. But now, again the community is faced with the pressures of development as traffic and business increase due to the development in the Sahtu.
I’d like to ask the Minister, where is the department in planning to restore two nurses in the community of Wrigley. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Along with the other communities that currently don’t have resident nurses, we are looking at Wrigley. All communities that have a population of under 250 people are essentially not scheduled to have residential nurses in their community in relation to the Integrated Service Delivery Model that we use to provide medical services to the various communities. But recognizing that all of these communities that don’t have residential nurses do require some nursing, we’re trying to find models that will work in communities such as Wrigley. Thank you.
Thank you very much. He was talking about models. Is there an actual policy that says the smaller communities cannot have nursing? When I’ve initially asked these questions, well, ever since I became MLA 10 years ago, there was an issue of having the support of policing as well. Is that still the issue here for returning nursing to Wrigley? Thank you.
That certainly is still the issue; it is still one of the issues that we are trying to get around. Currently the communities that don’t have RCMP also don’t have nursing, so that becomes an issue. I can’t recall the exact area or association that we deal with the Nurses’ Association that indicates that one nurse cannot be out in a community by themselves, but I do know that a model says that a population of over 250 can be accommodated by two nurses and also by two RCMP members. That type of model is something that would fit that. With a population lower than that, we are trying to find a way to provide more consistent nursing into all of these communities, but we haven’t found a method that would work yet. Thank you.
I guess the case here, as well, is that the community is expected to have increased development, increased traffic to the community, so the health and wellness of the community will be an issue here.
I would like to ask the Minister, will the Department start considering that and start planning towards that for restoring nursing to the community of Wrigley. Thank you.
Certainly, when we see an increase in development and also that the consequence of that is an increase in the population. I know that at one point Wrigley did have a population high enough to accommodate nurses; at this time it doesn’t. As we see an increase in industry activities in that area, then we would certainly consider that and take it into consideration when we provide nursing to Wrigley. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not a case that there never were nurses there. There were nurses there, there was RCMP there, so I would like to once again ask the Minister to look into the situation, take into account the increased development in that area and start planning or accessing the need for restoring two nurses back to the community of Wrigley. Thank you.
Again, right now the Member is correct that we are currently providing coverage out of Fort Simpson, and that sometimes that is scheduled to be three days a month, from what used to be full-time nurses and the supports necessary to provide nursing services to the community. For sure we are prepared to look at what the Member is suggesting at this time. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Time for oral questions is done. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Mr. Hawkins.
