Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have the deputy minister, Jo-Anne Cecchetto. And to my right, I have Jeannie Mathison.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that there was a review done I think 2020. We do do reviews on patients that, you know, with renal disease and where they are and what their needs are going to be. I'm not familiar when -- I mean, I can get back to the Member as to when the next planned review will be. I'm sure it's going to be soon, to just find that out. But another area that I -- you know, and this is part of our business plans is the chronic disease management. And this is a chronic disease. And so when we can better know and better control our -- what we -- you know, with our chronic disease...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what we -- I guess where to start is that the department, you know, working with -- as I mentioned, with housing and Infrastructure, did kind of a callout to and got some interest from different NGOs, and so we were able to come to an agreement with two within the funding agreements -- like, within the funding and the resources that we do currently have to be able to move forward on two. However, I hear the Member. I know this is a -- you know, we don't know how it's going to work but we know it's better than what we have. You know, there's nothing, right, for...

We can provide that information to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am pleased to present the 2024-2025 Main Estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $36.5 million, or 6 percent, over the 2023-2024 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of Health and Social Services while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of these proposed estimates include:

$28.3 million to address forced growth in a number of program areas, including the out of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, I think many of our communities are, you know, we have different models that are going on in our communities. We have job shares. We have term nurses. We have full-time indeterminant ones that have been there for years. The last resort that we want to use is agency nurses. And, you know, as a nurse I know that sometimes, yes, you're frustrated with that model but when you're the only one in there and that's the nurse that's going to come in and relieve you so you're not working 24 hours a day, you're very appreciative to have some time. So I hear the...

Yes. No, I appreciate the Members, you know, putting the word out there on the regional wellness councils because one of the things that I do as the Minister is I work closely with the leadership council, and they are the governing body of the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority and they are -- you know, they get the direction on, you know, what our priorities are as well, and they are the ones that are the administrators of all of the health programs. So it's really important that the Northwest Territories realize that those regional wellness councils are the voice of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, the $3.055 million is the community wellness and addiction recovery fund, the one that I keep kind of talking about that Indigenous governments can apply on. And that is separate from the mental wellness and addiction recovery capacity building fund -- or no, sorry, the mental wellness and addiction recovery fund. In the one here is, 125, is used for the youth addiction prevention and youth detox model.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is something that I cannot commit to in the House here, to creating a policy. As I mentioned yesterday, we spoke on many different areas. Within the medical travel policy, there are areas where there are gaps but medical travel -- like, according to our policy it is to help patients travel to an insured service. And that doesn't -- you know, and so if somebody is away then that's not part of medical travel. And the information -- and I will share that information with all Members of this House and that you can share them on your own social media, and...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, this is -- like I said, I'm sorry I can't give you a specific date or time. There are nurses that are going through this and being supported are different levels of where they are. And, you know, it can take up to one to two years for that specialized to be independent in this area. You know, we want to make sure that they have all the training that they need to be independent. Thank you, Mr. Chair.