Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I was asking questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services in regards to speech and language pathologists and OT positions and the issues around that. I would like to follow up on some questions here today. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister please explain how we are going to be able to provide the necessary assessments for children from the smaller communities, especially if there are challenges to see them in person? Yesterday, the Minister said there may be opportunities for positions to go in to the communities, but I just want to clarify that with the Minister here today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.
Thank you. Two parts to the question, my first answer is based on the second part. Yesterday, when I was talking about going in to the communities, I was talking about OT and speech-language professionals. They don't currently travel to some of the smaller communities in the Deh Cho. I have provided direction to the department that I would like to see more engagement in smaller communities. It still depends on caseload. If there is only one person, it may not be appropriate or financially reasonable to do that, but if there is a larger caseload, we want our professionals to go into the communities.
With respect to the first part of the question, we are working on an improvement project in the Deh Cho region. It includes a number of things: using electronic medical records to track and improve Deh Cho region performance on screening and referring children who need rehab services. The improvement project is basically tracking a number of things: the number of children by community who should be assessed; the number of children who received the Well Child Assessment, which is an important part of the assessment process; and the number of children requiring an assessment or referral to speech-language pathology and occupational therapy but also referral to a paediatrician through the Well Child Assessment process.
The goal that we are working to was to identify the need earlier and ensure that there is earlier referral to these services. We are screening more children as a result of what we have already started as more children are attending the Well Child Clinics in the Deh Cho communities. We believe and feel comfortable that this is going to lead to more referrals for rehab services, which the team in Yellowknife is going to be able to provide once we actually create those positions and hire those people. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have heard that, in the Deh Cho region, they have a team that has been engaged in improving initiatives over the past year to improve rates of early childhood development screening of children to improve their early detection and earlier referral to rehabilitation services, which the Minister has talked about. Can the Minister explain some of the new improvements that I have heard about that he can share with us here today?
In my previous answer, I actually talked about some of the work that we are doing in this exact area to increase the number of referrals. In addition to that, in this current fiscal year, the one that we are in and is about to end, we did create some new rehab therapy-type positions in the Beaufort-Delta. Those services used to be provided by Yellowknife with the existing teams. That meant that there were about five or so clinical travel days up in the Beaufort-Delta. Those travel days are now going to be reallocated to the southern portion of this territory, which means that the number of days available to Fort Smith, Hay River, and the Deh Cho are up.
In addition, with the new team that we are creating as a result of this budget that is before us today, should it be approved, we are creating more positions in Yellowknife, with a focus on providing services to youth across the territory. The primary focus is on the southern part of the territory, as we have the team up in the Beaufort-Delta. That will also increase the number of days and supports available to all residents, including residents who live in the smaller communities and south of Great Slave Lake. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister explain: how does the system help teachers support students who have rehabilitation needs in the system right now?
During regularly scheduled trips to communities, the OT and speech language pathologists spend time in the schools. They actually go into the schools, observing classrooms, assessing and providing treatment to children meeting with different educators. This includes teachers, Mr. Speaker, program support teachers, education assistants, and inclusive schooling coordinators, to provide suggested global and specific strategies on intervention, things that they can do to help support development in these areas.
Mr. Speaker, additionally, services are provided remotely through video conferencing, telespeech, with students and education assistants. I know that Education, Culture and Employment also supports educators in this area and is in the early stages of establishing a territorial base support team of specialized consultants who will be available to support school staff and parents in implementing supports for their children. It is about working together. This team is being incrementally built over the next two years, starting in 2019-2020. Really, if you want details on that, I would suggest talking to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I will say that this team will support the work of health professionals who are already working within the schools and provide complementary support, such as planning, implementation, and resource development.
Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is that we don't feel that we can do this without the support of the schools and the teachers. We are working together. As we continue to roll this out, there will be likely be growing pains. We will work together to overcome these growing pains to make sure that we are providing the supports to those kids who need it when they need it.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, again, thank the Minister for all of these answers and clarifications on some of these things. If I am looking to get more information for the Deh Cho and the NWT authorities to help me to better understand what programs, services, and supports are available for the region in Stanton for children requiring rehab services, can the Minister please advise what positions and whom I should be able to talk to so that I can get better informed in this area? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are kind of two different answers here. If the Member is looking for information for himself, we do have protocols that have been established as far as how MLAs engage with departments. I would be happy to set up meetings or appointments between the Member and local staff, like the COO in the Deh Cho. I would also suggest possibly meeting with the territorial manager of [4:42] Health Services here in Yellowknife, who is with the NWT HSSA. It might be valuable for the Member to help educate him. I am happy to arrange those, following our protocols.
If he is asking the question as a citizen, as somebody who lives in the riding, my recommendation would be to talk to the professionals, talk to the COO, talk to individuals in the Health and Social Services system that are located in the community. They will be able to provide residents with the information that they need and/or how to seek a referral.
If you have a child, zero to five, I strongly encourage you to attend the Well Baby Clinics as regular as needed to ensure that your children are meeting their important milestones and, if they are not, are getting referrals as quickly as possible.
Masi. Oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.
---Unanimous consent granted.
