Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my Member’s statement was on health centres. Considering that northern health centres can face truly unique challenges and many small, remote communities do not have regular access to large medical facilities, will this government look into providing a community health care staff with infrastructure and resources such as on-line health care programs and services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Foundation for Change Action Plan has three pillars. One of them is accessibility and that is to make investments and focus our energy on making sure that all of our residents and our health centres have access to the health care that they need. As the Member mentioned, obviously the on-line service and electronic methods of providing health care is one of our priorities. In the last two or three years we have invested about $15 million into the system, and we will continue to work to improve accessibility and services in our small communities. Thank you.
Considering the health care centres in the communities are the first and only point of contact for all health-related emergencies, yet most centres lack even the most basic requirements to respond to call-outs, will this government commit to having small and remote community health centres be equipped with our major centres’ health clinics?
I think it’s important to note that our health care professionals, none of them are working alone. They are connected to our entire NWT health care system. A nurse or a health care community health rep or any of the staff in our remote communities are our front-line response, but they are connected to the doctors and specialists in the regional hospitals like Inuvik, then to Stanton and, if needed, to southern facilities. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member’s questions and it is important. We are working on making sure that our staff gets what they need to provide the services they need, especially on the front lines. Thank you.
Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
As I mentioned in my Member’s statement earlier, the staff at the community health centres work to improvise with what they have, but they definitely need more resources. Will this government develop and implement procedural policies and resources so small, remote community health centres have more assistance when responding to and diagnosing emergency situations? Thank you.
Certainly, we wouldn’t want our front-line staff to be improvising use of equipment or their practices. They need to be supported and they are supported. I could think of the H1N1 as an example where there was regular support and clinical guidelines that went out to every support staff on an ongoing basis. I believe they are doing that with other issues of health care delivery. I will take that question, Mr. Speaker, from the Member and I will commit to making sure that our front-line staff are provided with the practice guidelines and the equipment they need to provide the care for people. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
