Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the need for palliative care beds in Deline. I’ve been working with three Ministers so far and we’re trying to figure out why it’s such a struggle to get palliative care beds in that community so that loved ones can live out their dying days amongst their people. Why is it taking so long?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re committed to getting this done and are working with the community of Deline to get this done. We had actually hoped to go in this summer, but due to staffing issues and the fact that Deline was probably one of the busiest communities in the Northwest Territories this summer, we didn’t actually manage to get in there.
Last week, during our bilateral meetings with the Sahtu, I committed to getting in there as quickly as possible, prior to October 23rd. In fact, we were hoping to go in this week, the same time that the Sahtu AGM, the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority AGM was going to be held in the community. Unfortunately, I understand that a respected elder has passed away in the community. With respect to the community, I’d like to pass along my condolences to the family as well as to the community itself. But it has resulted in that the AGM was in fact cancelled and our staff has decided not to go in there this week.
This morning I attempted to call Chief Kenny to set up a time for us to go in or, rather, the staff to go in to work with the community, because there’s a number of things that we have to do with the community. We want to make sure that the people are there who we can engage with properly. Unfortunately, I was not able to get through. I will be calling later today at break to hopefully coordinate a time with the community when we can actually get in there. I’m hoping that we can get in there next week to do the work that needs to be done. Thank you.
I do want to commend the Minister for the respect for the well-respected elder who passed away, and that is why we need the urgency to have our loved ones come home so their last dying days can be at home.
I want to tell the Minister, there’s a program called Excuses No More. I wonder if the staff could look at that program, because that’s all I’ve been hearing from this department. I’ve been at this for some time, you know, and all I get, and people in Deline get, is excuses, excuses, excuses.
I want to ask the Minister, can he stand by his commitment, when he said in Deline in June, we met them and said we’re going to do this, you know, and let’s get to that.
So, I want to ask the Minister, according to the press release, it said that the Premier’s committing to meet with the Deline leadership within the next two weeks to discuss how to bring palliative care beds into the community. That’s October 9th. Can we believe this? How strong is your commitment?
Thank you. As I indicated in my first response, we were actually intending to go in this week and we were booked to go in, but as a result of the death in the community and the cancellation of the AGM, we’ve chosen not to. I have committed to getting the staff in there. I’m hoping they can go in next week, but before we can get to that time I’m hoping to speak to the chief in the community to make sure that it is still an appropriate time, given the recent events in the community. If not, hopefully we can get it done the week after, but I have committed to getting this done prior to October 23rd and I stand behind my original commitment that we will get this done.
This is where I’ll see it when I believe it. It’s been a commitment by this government, the past government, through all the governments and the Ministers to get palliative care beds in that community. I just don’t know what’s going on over there to get the beds that they need over there.
So I want to ask the Minister again, can he assure this House and assure the elder up there, assure the people in Deline that we’re going to go beyond just saying we’re going to get it, we’re actually going to put palliative care beds in the community, because from this side here it’s quite frustrating to stand up and not be really sure that the commitment is followed through. It’s hard.
I appreciate the Member’s opinion. I disagree with him. I’ve made a commitment; we’re going to stand up to the commitment. There’s a significant amount of work that needs to be done and they were hoping to do it this week, but they will do it the week after or the week after, depending on what the chief of the community says is appropriate.
Department staff need to work with the authority and we need to work with the community to conduct a functional program assessment of the wellness centre that exists. They also need to complete a health assessment with the needs of elders and residents with chronic conditions in the community. This will help identify the gaps in the current resources so that a plan for services that will support the elders to remain in their community, remain in their homes during the dying process can be put into place. This isn’t just the GNWT. This is going to require a partnership with the community of Deline.
We’re looking forward to moving forward and developing that partnership and finding a way to conclude this in order to ensure that residents have the ability to receive palliative services in their communities during the final stages of life. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My reason for standing here is to represent my people. This is what my people are saying. You know, where is the conviction of this department and this government? How many Ministers do we have to go through to say we want palliative care beds in Deline? I’ve heard, I can go through Hansards and bring up all the commitments that you’re going to do. Nothing has panned out and that’s a matter of fact.
So, I want to again remind this government, remind this Minister that the commitments are not there. They’re like standing on sand, it’s not salt, and people know because nothing is happening in Deline right now. So we’ll see. We’ve heard it before. So this is the voice of the people in Deline.
I want to ask the Minister, how strong is your commitment to the people? How strong is your word?
I appreciate the Member’s frustration. I’ve said this is my fourth time standing here in this role saying that I’ve made a commitment, we’re going to get it done. We were supposed to go in this week, but out of respect for the community, we have not gone in this week because of a death in the community. I tried to speak to the chief. I will call him again at break. I tried to call him this morning to work with them, to work with the community that we respect to make sure that when we go in there we can have meaningful dialogue. We are committed to this. I don’t know how I can say it differently for the Member. We are committed, we’re going to get this done, we will work with the community, a community we respect and a community that we have been working with up to date. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
