Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in follow up to my statement yesterday on the need for hearing aids for all young children in the Northwest Territories for the Minister of Health. Currently, not all NWT children are able to access any programs to cover the costs of the hearing aids crucial to their development. Although the GNWT sees fit to support the early identification of children with hearing loss, they do not provide all children with the intervention they require in order to succeed.
I’d like to ask the Minister, what is the status of action to address this gap? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for raising this particular issue. The Member did raise this issue in July and at that point I was able to read the report that the Member has referred to, and the report suggested that we can support this small number of children who are affected here in the Northwest Territories with a very small sum of money.
I have since directed the department to move forward to find the money from within to provide hearing aids to young children that the Member is describing. They’re in the middle of that process now. I was going to wait until a little bit later until I actually had something to announce as far as a completed policy, but I have directed the department to do that and it’s underway now. We anticipate that we’ll be in a position to start providing those hearing aids to those affected children in the next couple of months. Thank you.
Thanks to the Minister. That’s great news, great news indeed, and I hope the word can get out to families that this is relevant to very soon.
The estimate for the annual cost in 2012, as the Minister knows, was pretty modest. Has he had a chance to update that and is there an explanation of the differences that are anticipated? Mahsi.
Because we have such a small population here in the Northwest Territories and everybody who’s going to need a hearing aid does have to go through the audiology unit at the Stanton Medical Clinic, we know the individuals who are going to be coming through and how many children are going to be affected. It’s been a very small number over the last number of years. We anticipate that the cost in 2012 was around $22,000. The technology prices haven’t radically changed. We believe it’s going to be about the same amount of money. But as I said, once I have more details I will absolutely be sharing it with the Member and with committee. Thank you.
This is a small number of people, and to those involved, it’s extremely important, as the Minister knows.
This week I had a communication with an audiology professional, one of our staff, who said “In the grand scheme of things, it seems so insignificant, but when you are working with these parents and having to look them in the eyes and tell them their child has a hearing impairment and it’s going to cost $2,465, the cost of a pair of hearing aids and ear molds, to give them access to sound, well, it’s a difficult place to be in as a professional and I imagine as a family too. And there is simply no reason why we aren’t supporting these babies and kids.”
So again, I really appreciate the Minister’s action on this and I would ask how soon will you be able to let the front-line staff know that there’s hope on the immediate horizon and they can start talking to families. Mahsi.
Thank you. They probably just heard with the Member’s comments and my commitment to making this happen, but I will have the department work with Stanton and the Stanton Clinic to ensure that the practitioners know that we’re working on this and that the solution is on its way. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wouldn’t doubt they are listening, and the most important question will be, when will this happen? When will this be in place? Mahsi.
We do have to write some policies; we do have to make sure that we have the ability to provide the actual physical hearing aids. I will get more information for the Member. I will get back to you on when we anticipate to go live. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Time for oral questions has expired. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Hawkins.
