Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Further to my Member's statement, I'm wondering if the Minister can advise us of the rates of Alzheimer's, dementia, and Parkinson's disease in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Kam Lake. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this information is housed in the same place as I mentioned to the Member from Deh Cho, the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance Program which, as a reminder, is a collaborative network of provincial and territorial surveillance systems supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The information on the website is broken down into geographic region, age, and sex; and the rate of Alzheimer's and other dementias in the NWT for residents aged 65 and older is 5.73 percent which compares to 6.68 percent nationally. The rate of Parkinson's in the NWT for residents aged 40 years and older is 0.25 percent versus 0.43 percent nationally. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate that, and I think that it's important that we establish a baseline if it's expected to go up substantially over the next decade.
Mr. Speaker, the rate of Parkinson's among NWT residents is low, but watching very intimately residents try to go through the process of being diagnosed leads me to believe that maybe we do have more of a higher instance of Parkinson's in the Northwest Territories and Alzheimer's and just are not aware of it.
So I'm wondering, Mr. Speaker, what supports are available to Northerners with neurodegenerative diseases in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it all starts with the relationship between the health provider and the patient. They would be able to recommend a range of health and social services that would assist with diagnosis, treatment, and support. For example, medications and medical supplies and equipment can be covered through the NIHB program for First Nations and Inuit residents and the Supplementary Health Benefits program for nonIndigenous residents. Home care services are available to residents in all communities, and Meals on Wheels in some communities. Rehabilitation services are available in person through community outreach visits and virtually to support individuals with mobility, cognitive, and other impairments resulting from their conditions.
It's also important to say that Indigenous governments are active in this area. The IRC has a dementia coordinator, and that nonprofits, like the Alzheimer's Society, are also active in this area to support individuals who have neurodegenerative diagnoses. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that information. I think anecdotally from what I am learning, alongside some constituents, is that the process of going through the recognizing of a degenerative disease and then from there being able to go through the process and begin the process of being diagnosed is really a difficult, difficult stage of the of the entire journey and that we do not have, in the Northwest Territories, specialists who are able to help people through that process and that can be very, very difficult because you end up kind of trapped in this area of not knowing what someone has, not knowing where to turn them and where to support them, and so I'm wondering if the Minister can speak to, given the expectation of the growth of these diseases across Canada, what the hiring plan is for the NTHSSA to support the surge of neurodegenerative diseases expected over the next decade? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there isn't hiring that's being planned that would support diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. That really requires a level of specialty that it's necessary to use medical travel to obtain. So, you know, the person would need to go to Edmonton or another place where that kind of specialty is available. What we're offering more is how to support the patient who has that diagnosis.
So going back to home and community care, there was a comprehensive review of that program done in September 2019, and it did, indeed, verify what the Member has said, that there is an anticipated surge in need coming from across the NWT, and it's my information that the health authorities are moving towards meeting this need. They are recruiting a health planner and a manager for continuing care planning to lead this work, and the positions will be advertised in January. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Kam Lake.
Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the Minister's recognition that a lot of this work does require a specialist to really go through this process with someone. And often medical travel's not always a possibility. Sometime there are a multitude of appointments that need to happen, and sometimes along the way people just need to be able to ask questions. And so I'm wondering if this position of a health planner and the plans of the NTHSSA speak to possibilities of creating a host of specialists that can speak to different conditions that Northerners have that Northerners could then access. We've been doing a lot of work as far as virtual care and really expanding a database of physicians and specialists within that and so is there work that can be done to provide a greater level of support virtually for people, then, to be able to answer those questions and help them through this journey? Thank you.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not aware that specific staffing is being considered at this point, although it makes sense to have someone who is able to answer questions and provide a navigationtype of role with people with neurodegenerative diseases for the reason that the Member has mentioned, that the incidences of these diseases is likely to get greater as time goes on.
I know of people who have had neurodegenerative diseases in the Northwest Territories who have received good support from nonprofits, but mostly that's been by telephone and not by in-person means. And so there's clearly work that needs to be done in this area. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
