Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Quite frankly, I’d just like to ask the Minister how the Mental Health Act is being enforced in small communities where there is no psychiatrist and, in some cases, no nurses to complete a psychiatric evaluation or assessment, specifically in the isolated communities.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Mental Health Act is something that we, in the Department of Health, recognize we need to have a lot more resources to be able to address every single issue that can be covered under the Mental Health Act. The act allows us to do a few things within the act. Some with the assistance of a nurse, if there is a nurse in the community, with the assistance of a peace officer, RCMP. Individuals who are reported to have some mental health issues could be apprehended by the RCMP, evaluated by a nurse, if that is what is available. In the small communities we use the resources that are available to try to follow the Mental Health Act if there are mental health issues.
The Minister flowed perfectly into my second question in terms of evaluation put on by the nurses. In the Northwest Territories we have eight communities that do not have a resident nurse. When we come up with these issues dealing with someone with a mental disorder, what is put in place for those eight communities where there is no resident nurse readily available to do that assessment? What is the protocol for the communities that do not have a nurse, that can’t provide that type of assessment?
Previously, in the small communities, we had used lay dispensers to assist us in all of the physical health and mental health aspects. Those positions have been converted into community health workers. In those communities where we don’t have nurses, we have community health workers. Community health workers are used to try to address as many of the mental health issues that may arise in those small communities where there are no nurses.
Can I get a confirmation from the Minister that all the lay dispensers underneath the Mental Health Act were actually transferred to the new job term health workers, and whether these health workers are covered under the Mental Health Act to provide those types of services, and whether they’re going to amend that changing and add health workers to the Mental Health Act so that they understand they’re covered for any type of liability to provide any type of emergency services?
The main function of the community health worker definitely is physical health and the addressing of physical health. Mental health is an issue that sometimes the mental health worker would have limited knowledge of what to do in a situation and would have to draw on regional resources. In some of these communities, however, we have community wellness workers that can also be used to try to address people that are suffering from mental health issues in the communities. It’s very difficult to have all the right resources and all of the right communities to be able to address mental health issues.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When an individual is brought to a health centre emergency room by a peace officer or someone in the community under a mental health disorder, a written report has to go to the Minister’s office to ask for the individual to be detained. How is this addressed in the small communities when we have, possibly, communication challenges as well as somebody in the community possibly not being able to fill out the proper forms and allowing these people to get back out into the public when they really do need the help? How is this addressed with these written reports and does he feel a 24-hour period is sufficient enough to get the assessment and the report done?
Thank you, Mr. Moses. I want to remind the Members, short supplementary. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In those situations, although I can’t specifically recall receiving any reports from RCMP officers that have apprehended somebody under the Mental Health Act, I do know that we have a director within the system who would maintain a registry of any of these type of encounters or issues that result from an individual that may be apprehended and then the report is provided through the office. The reports don’t come directly to me but should eventually make their way. I don’t believe that 24 hours is a sufficient time in the small communities to allow that report to go through the director, registrar, and then over to the Minister’s office.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
