Glen Abernethy

Mr. Speaker, the phase 1 planning study for the development of a health centre at Fort Simpson is currently underway and we anticipate that it'll be concluded during the 2016-2017 fiscal year. Once it's done, phase 2 of the planning study, which is basically the schematic design and will take us to a Class E estimate, will be done. We're hoping too to bring that project forward for consideration in the capital, but the earliest that we anticipate that we'll see it in the capital plan would be 2018-2019. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, managed alcohol programs have existed in Canada for 20plus years. The first one started operating in Toronto in 1997. But all these programs, they differ a little bit in how they operate. Some of them operate as part of day programs; others operate as part of supportive housing or shelters; and some are non-residential dropin programs.

I have committed and I will commit again to the Member that part of the development of the Addictions Recovery Action Plan, building from our framework, the department will research all these established programs, identify emerging best practices for...

The answer is yes. The bottom line is we are working already with the City of Yellowknife, the Department of Justice, the NWT Housing Corporation, the RCMP, to come up with some ways to address some of the issues that we're experiencing in our downtown core and the demands those are putting both on our ambulance services here in Yellowknife but also on our emergency room.

A couple of things we're looking at is expanding our hours of service for our day shelters. We're looking at moving our day shelter to a more appropriate location. We're also looking at a sobering centre here in Yellowknife...

Individuals within our long-term care facilities have a wide range of different challenges. As I indicated previously, we do an assessment of each individual to identify their needs and their specific needs and develop personal care plans based on the individual's needs. Having said that, in our new facilities we have a lot more structures built into the buildings themselves so that we can isolate different areas and keep individuals, whether they have dementia or not, separated from each other when there are issues, when there is a risk of violence.

So our new facilities do have the ability to...

The training varies across the Northwest Territories depending on the type of training or support that individual authorities pre-transformation had established. We are looking to try to obviously standardize some training to make sure that all long-term care facilities have training that is both adequate, timely, and effective. As an example, there is a three-day training that has been available in Fort Smith called P.I.E.C.E.S. P.I.E.C.E.S is an approach to a multidisciplinary team to understand enhanced care for individuals with physical and/or cognitive mental health issues that have...

Mr. Speaker, the Member and the House are aware of, obviously, the fiscal challenges that we're facing, so we would have to be looking within. But it doesn't mean, Mr. Speaker, that we're not interested in doing this, but the way our current facilities are designed, some of them are more open concept, it may prove unnecessary to have cameras in some of our facilities. We need to look. We need to talk to the longterm care facilities that exist and get their ideas of where this might be appropriate and where it may be unnecessary. So it's certainly not all longterm care facilities, but we're...

Mr. Speaker, as somebody is admitted into a longterm care facility, there is a comprehensive functional assessment done of the individual to determine what their needs are. This information assessment is used to actually develop individual care plans which address the individual's mental health issues and other challenges. These are the things that we do to build individual case plans that will hopefully help us avoid violent incidents within our system. But it has happened. The Member is aware of, certainly, the incident that has recently happened, and we know from review across Canada and by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to table the following seven documents entitled "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 200-18(2): Licenses Practical Nursing Program in Tsiigehtchic," "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 216-18(2) and Oral Question 225-18(2): Medical Travel Challenges," "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 224-18(2): Services to Support Seniors Aging in Place," "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 246-18(2): Contract Midwifery Services in Yellowknife," "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 250-18(2): GNWT Campaign to Eliminate Family Violence," "Follow-up Letter to Oral Question 277-18(2)...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm committed to moving this initiative forward. The community of Fort Simpson does need an upgrade to their health centre. We need to bring it to current standards. We are moving the planning process forward. I'm happy to move this into the capital planning process at the earliest opportunity, but it does have to compete with a number of projects across the Northwest Territories, whether it's schools, health centres in different locations, other infrastructure that are being demanded by residents of the Northwest Territories. We're doing the work. We're...

As with all the facilities that we've built, including the ones that we're currently building, there is no addition of services being added to Fort Simpson. The facilities will provide us with the ability to provide services better, more effectively, safer, given the technology requirements of our health system as it stands today. So there will be no new or additional programs being added to Fort Simpson, which is consistent with the health centre in Norman Wells, which is consistent with the health centre in Fort Res, and the one we would be building in Tulita. The one difference is the...