Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier in the day I did my Member’s statement on cancer and cancer screening in the smaller communities. I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, how does the Minister explain the uneven levels of cancer screening in communities of different sizes and what will be done about it? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things that we’re doing across the Northwest Territories, and each of the authorities is responsible for providing the health professionals in their communities, and nurses are out there trying to encourage people to come into the health centres when they’re not feeling well, to get pre-screening and to get regular well man and well woman clinics done.
Prevention is one thing that we need to be doing, and we’re doing that. The other thing that we need to be doing is making sure that people are getting a timely assessment. I would encourage the Member, I would encourage all residents of the Northwest Territories to go to your health centres, visit with your health professionals, do your well man and well woman clinics to make sure that all your health is being taken care of.
Certainly, I know that we do have a Cancer Strategy and it’s well on track, but at the same time, when the Minister says go see your health professionals, we’ve got communities like Wrigley, Colville Lake, Tsiigehtchic, all my other communities, Nahanni Butte, we’ve got no nurses there, and people have not been tracked. They’ve gotten lost in the system and there are cases where follow-up was not done.
How is the Minister and how is our health system going to address this?
I’ve been the Minister of Health for about four months now, approaching five, and I’ve had this brought up to me several different times, and I personally have had the opportunity to sit down with residents in the Northwest Territories who have experienced cancer who have expressed the exact types of concerns that the Member is bringing up with me. We do have a cancer patient navigator position within Stanton. That position is intended to help individuals through the system. But I hear the Member and I know that we need to do a little bit more work there. We do have the Aboriginal health and community wellness division within the Department of Health and Social Services and they’ve been doing a number of things to promote regular assessment and regular visits with your physician but also doing things like sharing circles to make sure that people who are experiencing cancer have the supports they need in the communities. But I do hear the Member. I do recognize that there are some challenges out there. I’m certainly interested in the Member’s input and we will continue to work to enhance this particular area.
The report also talks about morbidity rates, particularly amongst the Dene, Inuit and Metis people is 1.5 times higher, so what’s happening is that more and more Aboriginal people are dying of cancer and some of it is because we are in the smaller communities.
I’d like to ask the Minister, has he reviewed the report, looked at the morbidity rates, most particularly amongst the Aboriginal people, and what will the department do about that?
I am aware of the rates and there are a number of things we’re trying to do. We’re obviously trying to encourage healthier living. We have the Healthy Choices framework where we’re trying to encourage people to eat healthy, live healthy, be healthy, quit smoking and lose weight. All of these things obviously contribute to cancer rates in the Northwest Territories, so we’re trying to help people make healthy choices. We do have system navigators in place to help individuals when they’re through, and we do have health professionals in most of the communities where we’re encouraging individuals to go for their regular visits with their practitioners to make sure that they’re getting the treatment and support they need. Early detection is key, and that’s why we really need people to work with their health centres.
I am happy to say that through the Aboriginal health and community wellness division, communities are starting to engage with their own community wellness plans to promote healthy living but also encourage people to utilize the services that exist.
But I will go back to the previous question. We know we need to do more around the navigation to make sure that people’s journey through the system is as seamless as possible. We want better health, we want better care and we want a better future for all of our residents.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my Member’s statement, as well, I’m pleased that our cancer rates aren’t increasing, and I’m also pleased that we’ve undertaken a program called the cancer sharing circles. The report only spoke about three communities. I am supportive of it.
What is the ministry going to do about increasing the number of cancer sharing circles and the frequency of it in all our communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is one of the areas that we’ve had some positive feedback on. We need to figure out ways to expand it out and make it more available. There are all sorts of opportunities here. Telehealth is one example. We have an opportunity to bring people together. I will commit to working with the Members to see what opportunities exist to expand this in the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
