Debates of October 30, 2024 (day 35)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of health. In small communities, how are health promotion activities rolled out? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in most of our communities, we have community health representatives, we have health care staff, we have home care staff; however, you know, there are some initiatives that are sent to the schools. You know, they may work with the health centre to get information if there's certain things going on in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What formats are used in health promotion campaigns to target different demographics such as youth and elders? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within each community -- and I had the privilege to go to the Sahtu, and while we were attending the AGM there for the Sahtu Secretariat, there was the CHR there and they were there in collaboration with health and the RCMP and they had a campaign going on for illicit drugs. You know, we've heard many times that there are those things. That was happening. And I spoke to the CHR, and she just goes out to the community and sees what the needs are in that community, and then she tries to design her program what's based best needs, and she utilizes her support, her team, within the health authority to be able to roll out any projects or things in her community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How do we ensure the right resources are reaching the people at risk? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we hire these frontline staff in the community, they're usually members of the community, they're usually -- like, most of the CHRs that I have met along the tours that I have done as a health Minister are Indigenous people from the communities so they know their communities. They know that they can access -- they can do presentations in the school, they know that can -- you know, they can work with the home care workers to do community events. Whenever there is a community hall event, they can do those types of things. You know, that's where I think the -- if you have a CHR in your community and you want more things, I suggest that, you know, meeting with those staff to see what's going on in their community, how can you better support your community. I think we all as leaders in our community, we all go home after, you know, session is over, and we know who these people are in our community. And we know what we're hearing as MLAs, so how do we go back and we say this is what we're hearing, how could we do things better. And I encourage that MLAs do that within their community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Health and Social Services. Final supplementary. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I said earlier, I'm concerned in my riding that not enough's happening. What areas of health promotion are prioritized in small communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't believe that there's -- you know, there each specific -- like, right now, we're hearing illicit drugs across the territory so the Office of the Public Health has started to be able to come up with the materials that are needed to give to the people on the ground. I believe that it's each individual community, whatever their priority is in their community they should be reaching out to the health centre saying we want education on this stuff. You know, we have elders that are asking this kind of information. Every community's going to do it different and that's the -- that's the good thing about CHRs, is that they're flexible to be able to do this. So that's what I would encourage, is every community may have their own priorities on what they want. The information within health is available, and if it's not available in their community, they can -- you know, like the Member, if she finds that these things are not available in her community, bring it back to me, come or send an email. We can direct where they can get the information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Health and Social Services. Oral questions. Member from the Sahtu.