Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to my Member’s statement, it has come to my attention that there has been a letter sent to two elderly individuals who are in the Joe Greenland Centre receiving long-term care support. Mr. Speaker, I’d just like to read a sentence out of the letter. It says, “The staff will help you transition to your family’s home on or before February 16, 2011, by 5:00 p.m.” So they’ve got to be out of there exactly at 5:00 p.m., February 16th.
Mr. Speaker, we had a public meeting in Aklavik on January 25th, with the Minister of Health, the Minister of Housing and also the deputy minister of Health. It was a four-hour meeting with over 100 people, the residents of Aklavik in attendance. That was a meeting where the community... It was the first time they have ever been consulted on the closure of the Joe Greenland long-term care side of the wing. But yet, Mr. Speaker, we committed at that time to work with the community to develop a transitional plan, look at exactly how the families are going to be dealt with, the employees that are basically going to be losing their jobs, and try to find a workable way through this situation.
I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services why this letter was sent after the commitments we made in public in the Aklavik community meeting, and more importantly, the commitments we made there, or the Minister made, to work with the community to work out a smooth transition for this process and not to have these types of letters sent to family members and notify them that they’ve got two weeks to vacate the premises.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The staff of the authority have been working with the families for the last number of months and they will continue to work with the families. That letter, I understand, went out because that’s what the staff thought the family wanted, agreed to, but, obviously, the Member has spoken to me about it and that’s not the understanding the family had. I will commit to the Member and I have already instructed the staff to work with the families and we will have more time to work with the families and work out the schedule that works better for the families. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, there was an understanding that the Joe Greenland Centre is going to be open until March 31st, in regard to the process for the public union arrangements we have with the staff, and more importantly, working with the families to accommodate them in the transition of trying to find other ways of dealing with their loved ones. But again, Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister: is the March 31st date the date we’re working from? Basically because of this letter, it definitely is not the understanding at the public meeting in Aklavik.
There are a number of things going on with respect to changes to the programming at Joe Greenland Centre. It is actually a really good news item in many ways. The Housing Corporation has committed to do a renovation to a wing of the facility that is badly required. We’re going to increase the number of independent beds from seven to 15, and there are people and elders in Aklavik waiting for those spaces. We are going to redesign our program so that instead of serving three elders, on average, that Joe Greenland Centre on that wing was able to do since 2007, we expect to serve up to 40 to 50 seniors who are also in need of programming. And we look to expand the home care program in Aklavik, which is exactly what we need to do more of.
There’s a lot of good stuff going on with respect to reprogramming, but we are ever mindful of the needs of the two families and we are committed to working with those two families so that we work out an arrangement that works for them, and they have been working with us. It is unfortunate that that letter went out, but we have until April 1st to work out the arrangement. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, again, the individual that I speak of is 90 years old. He’s visually impaired. He’s already in a controlled setting in regard to the Joe Greenland Centre. He has 24-hour support. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what are we doing to work with the families so that when the individuals transition out of the Joe Greenland, that their needs will be met in regard to their disability or the respite responsibility or palliative care, whatever will be required to ensure that those individuals have the care that they need to be able to live either independently or basically have the support of their families. What is the department doing to ensure that we have a smooth transition for these individuals?
Those two residents have been assessed by the Territorial Admissions Committee and I believe they have placements in Inuvik. We have to work out the timing and arrangements to place those elders there because they cannot be taken care of at the current setting. In a larger perspective, we are looking to develop a program in Aklavik where we can change the program so that we can look after up to 40 to 50 seniors who we believe are going to be in need of support from the government. So we look to expand the program and as I committed with the Member and to the public when we were there last month, we will work with the community and get their input on how to do our elders program at the Joe Greenland Centre. We will continue to have the program there, it will just be a different program. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister if there’s going to be any disciplinary action against the person that wrote the letter, more importantly, undermining the Minister, undermining myself as the MLA, and undermining the community’s efforts to work with us to find solutions to this problem and make sure that we have a fair transition. Is there going to be any penalties put forth in regard to how this thing was handled, and more importantly, how this was undermining the process we agreed to?
Mr. Speaker, the public administrator is following up on that. I will get back to the Member with the information. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
