Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I spoke about not having a full-time mental health worker in the community of Fort Liard. I would like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services when will there be a full-time mental health worker in the community of Fort Liard.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many vacancies in the Health and Social Services department and health and social services authorities. Specific to the full-time mental health worker in Liard, I don’t have the information on exactly when that individual position would be filled, but we do know that it’s one of the positions we are having difficulties filling. We do have a system that we are trying to employ. The Member referred to Health and Social Services taking over the human resources section to fill the vacant positions. That’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re expecting that we would have a good plan in place in March of this coming year that will give us a better handle on how and when to fill all the vacancies that we have across the North.
I know that with Human Resources we went through great strides of improving our recruitment, including a Regional Recruitment Strategy as well. I would just like to know, just in terms of that, has the Department of Health and Social Services undertaken a parallel type of move, because the real question is the sooner we get mental health workers and social service workers into the community of Fort Liard, the sooner we can establish consistent health and mental wellness approach in that community.
Yes, the Department of Health and Social Services works in partnership with Human Resources and Aurora College to develop some supports that would put a number of initiatives in place that will allow us to recruit and retain positions at all levels throughout our system. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, has the department, as well, addressed the concern about the high turnover rate in small communities? Are they looking at any type of programming or systems to help these professionals stay in the community longer and thereby provide a better service to the community and residents? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my response, we are going through the recruitment aspect of it. Also as important, if not more important, is the retention aspect of the job. We recognize that we have a high vacancy rate. I think we have a vacancy rate of 26 percent in social workers. I do believe that is the highest number of any particular profession in the health and social services system at this time. Therefore, I have actually met with all of the CEOs at the Joint Senior Management Committee. One of the priorities that I have given to them was to develop a recruitment and retention system for our system for both health and social services. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Some of the successes in the Education department in the smaller communities is hiring couples and/or seasoned teachers that are willing to stay in communities. I would just like to know, will the Minister and will the recruitment department as it were, be looking at those kinds of strategies to keep people in the communities for longer and longer stays? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure we spent a lot of time on tying in other professions going into the community. One of the main things that we’ve discovered, certainly, are that when the RCMP moves into a community, they often come with a spouse that is also a professional, whether a social worker or often a nurse, so we utilize that employee as well at that time. The problem with that is that the RCMP stay two years, or three years if they ask to stay the additional year. Often the partners of the other professionals that are coming into community also end up being short term. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
