Glen Abernethy

We had the same conversation during Committee of the Whole. There are no new dollars or additional dollars at this time. But as we can finish the continuing care standards and other documents that we’re working on, we will likely be in a position where we will have to identify areas that need funding. For ’15-16 there are no new or additional funds targeted to this particular topic. Thank you.

The department will be looking at a number of different jurisdictions. I can’t say off the top of my head whether they’re going to look at that one, but given that they are one of the leading jurisdictions, I can say for sure that certainly after today they will be.

Part of the process here is to make sure that people are aware of elder abuse, and I think our amazing partners like the NWT Seniors’ Society is doing amazing work to create awareness. But I do have to acknowledge that there is no consistent policy currently directing staff regarding the prevention, detection and response to elder...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Pages are an integral part of the operation of this Chamber and we’ve been blessed to have Pages from all over the Northwest Territories come and work with us. I really do appreciate all the work that all the Pages have done and I’d like to thank all the Pages that we’ve had over the years and the Pages that we’ll have in the future. In particular, I’d like to recognize a number of Pages who happen to live in the Great Slave riding who have been with us here since last Monday and are going to be with us here until March 12th, and those individuals are Shiri MacPherson...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We actually have a private organization doing the current review of the medical, or escort portion of the contract. I do forget the name of the provider, but I will get that information for the Member. I have asked the department to make sure that this is one of the issues that’s being discussed. To that point, I’ve also asked that the group that’s doing the review actually get in touch with the family that is in this particular situation. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the late Nelson Mandela said that overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right; the right to dignity and a decent life. As a government, we are committed to helping residents be self-reliant and to live with dignity. We have made investments in a wide range of programs, including education, housing, early childhood development, health promotion and addiction prevention and treatment, to help reduce and prevent poverty in our territory. However, government alone cannot eliminate poverty. It takes a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Member for promoting the importance of safety in our health and social services workplace. I’d also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge just how incredibly important this issue is not only at Stanton but for staff in all of our facilities across the entire Northwest Territories. I totally agree that our workers deserve a safe workplace that is free from the threat of physical assault. At the same time, we need to ensure that our patients and our clients deserve to receive treatment in a caring and supportive...

There isn’t a specific fund for that but there are different types of training that are available to all residents of the Northwest Territories. Things like First Aid, Medical First Aid, and Mental Health First Aid. There are a number of programs that are available. But as far as specific palliative care training, no, there isn’t. But we do have some dollars in our budget that allow staff to put in some overtime to provide some one-on-one support to families and the patient if needed.

Just a reminder, this is palliative care for short periods for certain medical conditions. It certainly can’t...

That will give us the ability to insert it into the capital planning process, which the Member does know takes a bit of time. I do hear the Member clearly around palliative care. We want to make sure, where possible, individuals can be supported for palliative care in the communities. While we’re doing the planning study and we’re getting the information which we can have further discussion on, we are making sure that our staff are trained so that the communities can support palliative care where medically possible in our communities in individual’s homes for short periods of time. In Deline...

The initial work being done by the contractor is going to be done, I believe, at the end of March, at which point we will start putting together the results and how we’re going to move forward. Of course, this is a consensus system, so we will be sharing those results and having further discussion with the Members as the report comes in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I went into some detail on this when we were in front of Committee of the Whole, but at this point the working group has actually gone out to a number of communities in the Northwest Territories. What we’re trying to do is get a small community, a large community and a remote community so we can get a variety of different inputs and opinions. We’re also looking at all the data that’s been gathered on medical travel over many, many, many years. So that’s been thrown into the mix. There will be some discussions with different stakeholders and groups in Yellowknife. They’ve also been...