Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during my Member’s statement I talked about the difficulties that people face when they have members of their family that are sick or members of their family who have passed away. I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services questions on some of the policies that these people have to deal with. Would the Minister direct her staff to develop a policy on accommodation support for family members that are supporting the sick when they are outside of their home community? Thank you.
The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct in his concern that we do not have a policy or program funding to accommodate a family of our people when they are dying or when they are sick for any length of time. The only thing we have is a medical escort to medical travel. It’s limited to one person and usually for a very specific period of time. If the Member is interested in working as a committee chair to pursue this further, we could analyze that and see what the cost implications are and what the scope and breadth of that program might be. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister then re-examine the Medical Travel Policy so that common sense decisions can be made quickly by the government to support individuals when the elderly or when the sick are involved and medical travel is required for family members? Thank you.
I believe the challenges and the problems that families have to go through has to do with the fact that we do not have a separate pot of money or program to accommodate families who want to be near those who are in care. All of the health authorities try to do their own way to accommodate them. Sometimes they get help from local bands or they look at every bit of money they have to do this, because we do not have a program and funding for that. So if the Member and the committee are interested in pursuing this, I’d be willing to… The Member knows that any changes to policy or establishing of a new program goes through working with the committees. So I will commit to working with the committee on those. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, also, in situations leading up to when an individual passes away in the community, there’s always the issue of providing a casket. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, the individuals and communities like to pull together to support families who have lost loved ones. Would the Minister review that policy of providing a casket -- I think it’s mostly for indigent people that they are providing -- so that there is some certainty when family members have a loss, some certainty to family in these trying times when they don’t have to deal with complex issues? Thank you.
The program we have now for providing for a casket is for the indigent only, which means people on income support. There is a very specific amount of money that is allocated for that. The problem is when the families want to go with something more costly, because they want to, as the Member said, do the best for their families. We currently do not have a program that would do that. Lots of back and forth that goes on is that staff are clear about what they are able to purchase. It’s the people who want to do more and we do not have programs for that. If the Member wants to pursue that and work with committee, I will be prepared to look at that. Thank you.
Your final question, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps there’s a requirement for an expansion of the policy outside of just purely indigent people, as well, considering the cost of living in the communities, even with individuals that have jobs. The cost of travel, especially if several family members have to go to Edmonton, even Yellowknife or even Hay River, for that matter, but especially when many members of the family have to travel to Edmonton, and then on top of that the cost of the casket adds to the expenses and a lot of the people can’t afford that. Like I said, communities do pull together, but I’d like to know if the Minister would also look at the policy again. I recognize what it’s for. Look at the policy again and maybe consider expansion of the policy to reach other constituents that may need that assistance. Thank you.
The policy is there now. Any expansion of the policy would require additional money and that would have to be the decision of the Legislature as a whole and the government as a whole.
Mr. Speaker, we spend lots of time talking about the sustainability and affordability of our health care and health care related costs. Obviously if we want to expand that and try to find new money, it would have to be done as a partnership between this side of the House and that side. Certainly, I’m willing to explore that, but at the end of the day, it would have to be a decision of the entire Assembly. Thank you.
The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
