Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services related to my Member's statement.
I'd like to know from the Minister the reasons why the health centre staff in the small communities are not allowed to attend to distress calls within the community and if there's a policy, what are the reasons for them? Mahsi.
Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Minister responsible for Health and Social Services.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you to the Member for the question. The reasons the nurses don't leave the health centre is they are prohibited from doing so by policy. The emergency first responders who attend to immediate problems car crashes, people fainting, and so on they are specifically trained as first responders and they have the appropriate equipment, including transportation, to respond to the situation. So there are four communities in the NWT where municipalities provide that service but, unfortunately, this does not happen in the small communities. And I realize that that is less than ideal, especially when you have a very concerning case like the one the Member mentioned. Thank you.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. And mahsi to the Minister for the answer. Yes, our community, we don't have no ambulance services, but I know the health centre has a van and a bunch of other vehicles. Apparently, there's no first responders in most small communities, and that's the challenge we have. The only people we have close to that, that don't attend to these kinds of calls, are the volunteer fire department as they only attend to anything related to fire.
I am wondering if the Minister could commit to working with other departments, probably a whole of Cabinet initiative, to look at training first responders for small communities? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is generally the fire departments who also take care of the emergency responder calls, and there is training available through the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs. It was being done online during the COVID time, but I think it's gone back to inperson training now. So I would encourage the Member to connect with my colleague, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, for more information. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
