Glen Abernethy

Thank you. We continue to move forward as the plan outlines, which is Fort Smith done, Hay River, Beaufort-Delta, Yellowknife, but we will look at other communities and regions as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve had an opportunity to look at the motion and the different whereases and we agree with the intent of what the Members are trying to say here today. In fact, we know that there’s a problem coming. Our continuing care report articulated clearly the need for beds in the Northwest Territories and this is something that we’re trying to address.

To that end, we have come forward with Our Elders: Our Communities, which I acknowledge Members have made it clear that this is not an action plan, and I agree, this isn’t an action plan. It’s a strategic framework that will help...

As I indicated, we’re already providing a nurse in the community one day a week to provide general services, and we’re always trying to find ways to enhance services in cases of emergencies. I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of the small communities throughout the Northwest Territories, and what I’ve been told is one of the major concerns they had is emergency response. We are rolling out Med-Response as we speak. We are hoping to have it out shortly. Med-Response is going to be a tool that your CHRs and your CHWs can use to help focus response in emergency situations in all...

I’ll continue to have dialogue with the authority as well as the community on how to best meet the community needs. But, as I indicated, we are exploring a number of different alternate delivery models that will benefit the community and we’re also rolling out Med-Response, which is going to have a direct positive impact on delivery of services with communities like Tsiigehtchic. So, there are a number of things that are currently underway. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re always looking for ways to enhance the services that we provide in our communities. Currently, in Tsiigehtchic we have a public health nurse who comes in one day a week for the 40 weeks that there isn’t a nurse located in the community. For six weeks at freeze-up and six weeks at breakup, there is a nurse actually located in the community to ensure some continuity of services.

Earlier this year, representatives from the department participated in a Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement collaboration round-table, which was held on May 29th and 30th, where...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The lead on this project on the construction is the Department of Finance. They were the ones who would have been doing the analysis on the P3, so I would like to go to the Minister of Finance.

We are using a template design for the majority of the building and the functions and services that are provided, but I have committed to having our director of infrastructure go to the community, and we were actually hoping that he could get in there in the fall. It hasn’t worked out. We’ve had trouble scheduling with the community and the individuals who want to participate in those meetings. But based on conversations I did have with him yesterday, he is continuing to call the community, still trying to get in there. We’re really hoping that he can get in there before Christmas, hopefully...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to Fort Good Hope, I appreciate the Member’s support. What we’re doing there is removing all the carpet in the health centre and replacement with impervious non-contaminable infection control appropriate flooring. It’s about health and safety of the patients and the staff and meeting our infection control standards. That’s what is going on there.

As I have said several times, we recognize the challenges of the Tulita facility. We know that facility is quite degraded and ready for replacement. It’s at the top of our list. It’s the first one that we feel needs...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We continue to roll out EMR and we have it in Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith. Right now we’re working on Stanton. As I indicated yesterday, there have been a couple delays on our rollout at Stanton, but we continue to move forward and we intend to continue to move forward with the other communities – Deh Cho, Tlicho, Sahtu, Beaufort-Delta – over the next couple of fiscal years. For specifics on some of the delays we’re experiencing on Stanton, I’m going to go to the deputy minister to provide that detail.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to family violence, there are some identified facilities or houses or places where individuals can go throughout the Northwest Territories and we can probably pull together where some of those, in which communities some of those locations exist. But when it comes to child and family services, our goal is to make sure that the children are with families, so we’re working with the Foster Family Coalition to increase the number of foster families that are available.

We’ve heard clearly that there’s got to be a better way to engage families, to make sure that...