Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on the questions from my honourable colleague from Yellowknife Centre, during my campaign it was brought to my attention from people struggling with diabetes that Inuvik, indeed, does not have a dialysis machine. I believe there are two in Yellowknife and one in Hay River. Would the Minister of Health and Social Services commit to having that equipment in Inuvik as well?
Thank you, me Boot Lake. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, having the dialysis equipment in Inuvik, you know, we have a lot of people that might need that have kidney disease but not all of them, and then I think in the territories we have 568 residents living with some degree of kidney disease, and then 87 clients with stage 4/5 renal disease, and those are the people that are potentially, if not already, on dialysis. Yellowknife has the capacity for a certain amount. Hay River, I think, is they are at capacity now. And, you know, what I'm willing to do for the Member is to review how many clients, you know, in Inuvik or in the Beaufort Delta that would require dialysis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Minister. Mr. Speaker, if there's one person that requires dialysis, I think that warrants enough having a machine up there. My understanding is the cost of the machine is not the issue; it's not super expensive. But I also understand that if you are diabetic and you live in Inuvik, you have to move if you require dialysis. It's as simple as that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I understand that one of the issues is that we use agency nurses and local nurses and you can't always be guaranteed that the nurses coming in are qualified to actually use that equipment, and that is one of the issues that we are facing. Can the Minister, given her background of course, confirm if that is indeed the case or if that's something that others can be trained to do? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear. Diabetes is a disease on its own. Kidney disease is a separate disease. It affects the kidneys and it's not you know, it's not the same. So although we have you know, on one hand we have lots of people with diabetes and, yes, we do need and we have those supports in all the communities, like the testing, the medication. But for dialysis, you know, there's other options as well. Like, there's peritoneal dialysis, which we do have I think three patients in the territory. They don't have to move to Yellowknife because of the level that they can do that at home and they're supported by to do that. So that's why I said I would commit to you know, to try to figure out how many people in the Beaufort Delta have kidney disease and if they are you know, how many are stage 4/5 that may require dialysis.
In the near future if we have a whole bunch of people that are, you know, coming towards needing dialysis in the future, then that would be something that we can look at. It's not just a machine. It is staffing, and it would have to require staffing and a facility. And the Member knows our facility in Inuvik is there's not any space in that facility. So, you know, we'd have to figure that out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, thank you to the health Minister; she's certainly more well versed in this than I am. But, Mr. Speaker, the person that I did speak with, a constituent during my campaign, had kidney issues and was getting to a point that would likely there was a good chance would require dialysis and therefore would have to move. My question still remains. That person was then told that one of the main issues is not the cost of the machine but actually having the staff to run the machine, and the main reason for that is the fact that we use our nurses, you're not guaranteed when they're coming in if they're trained to do that work. Can the Minister confirm that?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, yes and I'm glad that the Member you know, we work closely with Alberta Health Services' dialysis service to provide this service using their policies and stuff, and they do take training to be dialysis nurses. So it's the same as we have an endoscopy unit, we have to have trained staff to run that endoscopy unit. Like, those it's more than just hiring a nurse. And I've said it, and I'll say it again, a nurse is not a nurse is not a nurse. Everybody has a specialty, and that's why we struggle in our health care providing the right service for the right people, especially in this time where there's a shortage of nurses across Canada. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Okay, Members, time is up. Oral questions. Written questions. Member from Range Lake.
