Glen Abernethy

There are a number of things that we are doing to encourage people to quit smoking or to reduce the amount they smoke, preferably quit smoking. We are promoting some services, resources, tools to help people quit smoking, such as the NWT Helpline, we have tobacco cessation aids, we are continuing to promote things like National Non-Smoking Week, and we are also promoting World No Tobacco Day. We are putting together some new websites, building upon the good work that was done with the Don’t Be a Butthead campaign. Those resources or tools still exist and we will continue to hand those out...

The Mental Health Act is currently in the process of being completely rewritten. Timing-wise to do an amendment and then interfere with the process that’s underway might actually slow things up.

The types of issues the Member is talking about are going to be addressed under the Mental Health Act. We had hoped to have the Mental Health Act in front of this House in the life of this government, but it’s taking a little longer to draft than we had thought. We think we may be done drafting in the summer, which means we’re not going to have enough time to bring it to the House to go for first...

We’re trying to do a number of things to increase awareness of mental health issues here in the Northwest Territories. We did release a magazine last year, which was Mind and Spirit, which encourages people to read, talk and understand mental health issues. One thing I’d like to encourage all Members to do, as well as all the Ministers and all residents of the Northwest Territories, is to take Mental Health First Aid. That creates an awareness in the individuals so they can recognize when people they know might be struggling.

At the same time, we do have community counseling programs that are...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 44, An Act to Amend the Hospital Insurance and Health and Social Services Administration Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In Tsiigehtchic, a community of 128 people, we do have a public health nurse going in there one day a week. I hear the Member; we will certainly take that under consideration, but we also have two times a year where there is a public health nurse in the community for six weeks at a time. There is some room for discussion and I would be happy to have that conversation with the Member. Thank you.

It might be an interesting opportunity in the short term, but I think our priority needs to be to continue to staff the positions in the communities to make sure that people have somebody they can talk to face to face and eye to eye. Thank you.

In addition to Med-Response, I also mentioned some training on first responder training. I know that MACA has already begun delivering training on first responder in Tsiigehtchic. I believe that started in June 2014.

With respect to Med-Response, the residents are not the individuals who would call Med-Response, it would be the professionals in the community; in this case the CHR or CHW that happen to be in Tsiigehtchic. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m not actually aware of any programs like that, so if the Member does have some information she’d like to share, I’d be happy to read it and share it with the department

That is work that is currently being done. That is what’s being designed and created at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The report identified that the department is offering a continuum of withdrawal management services, although there are some gaps and there is room for improvement. One of the areas of improvement is mostly around awareness. We need to do a better job of making sure that our nurse practitioners, our nurses, our physicians and other practitioners throughout the Northwest Territories, as well as outside stakeholders like RCMP are aware of the program. We’re working on information to get out to these individuals so that they understand what is available and how we can...