Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to follow up to my Member’s statement, I’d like to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, what process does the department follow for medical escorts for the elderly?
Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a policy in place. I do acknowledge that the policy is quite old, and we have heard significant feedback from residents from across the Northwest Territories that it does need to be reviewed. We have committed to doing that review. I did meet with Members in January to talk about the review, the timeline for the review. We will have a policy, a redrafted policy shortly, and from there we will have an opportunity to discuss and go out for consultation on the individual components which do include escorts. We will have an opportunity to amend that portion of the Medical Travel Policy, and we will be seeking input from Members and from the public as we do so.
I’d also like to ask the Minister, why are medical escorts denied when approved by the doctor?
There is a policy in place and recommendations do have to come for an escort and sometimes they don’t meet the policy as it stands, which is another indication that there seems to be a glitch in the matrix, if you will, and we need to work on this policy and we need to fix this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I also mentioned in my statement a need for support more along the lines of counselling when dealing with life-threatening illnesses.
I would like to ask the Minister, will the Minister develop these support programs? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are a variety of conditions that our residents may be facing with respect to health. I know that we are doing a significant number of things around cancer and have cancer support groups and other groups and mechanisms that are available to individuals that are suffering from particular conditions. If the Member has some other conditions or some specific conditions that he would like to talk about, I would certainly be open to that discussion and encourage him to come down the hall and we can have that conversation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Blake.
Mr. Speaker, I would just like to ask the Minister, are those supports available to the people in the small communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I know that we do have individuals in each of the regions who are providing services out to the smaller communities and there are opportunities through telehealth where some of those groups can connect.
As far as the communities the Member represents, I would be happy to provide the Member with a little bit of breakdown of some of these supports we are providing with respect to these cancer support groups. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
