Sandy Lee

I think it’s important to note that our health care professionals, none of them are working alone. They are connected to our entire NWT health care system. A nurse or a health care community health rep or any of the staff in our remote communities are our front-line response, but they are connected to the doctors and specialists in the regional hospitals like Inuvik, then to Stanton and, if needed, to southern facilities. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Member’s questions and it is important. We are working on making sure that our staff gets what they need to provide the services they need...

The Member is right; the finance section of the hospital is in the process of moving out to Ice Plaza, the new retail outlet upstairs. It’s taken longer than we would like for the renovations, but hopefully they will be able to move soon.

With respect to the medical clinic and every other function at the hospital, that is under review. A master development is not just a blueprint, a floor plan, but it is a real vision about what the Stanton Territorial Hospital will be. We anticipate with the building and opening of the Territorial Dementia Centre and the consolidated clinic, it would have a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That review is being undertaken by the motion of this House. I understand from just hearing from the committee members that they’re having a very good review of this whole area and obviously the committee will report back to the House on their findings. Our department’s approach, and my approach with the deputy minister, has been that we are there to assist in any way, provide whatever information and resources that you may need. I am looking forward to what the committee has to recommend and at that time we will have to work together to work out the plan on how the...

Yes, I understand what he’s saying. We could provide him with a breakdown of exactly what that $600,000 is, but what I did say is correct, I believe, but I will give him a breakdown. Each authority had their own fuel costs imbedded into their budget; now it will be transferred out. THAF funding had a different impact for different authorities, whether it’s the Midwifery Program in Smith, the Home Care Program was spread into three or four different authorities, nurse practitioners were in different areas, STI nurse was in Yellowknife health, and some of the physician money out of THAF was all...

Mr. Chairman, the topic that the Member is bringing up is the medical travel escorts. I think that is primarily what the Member is speaking to. As the deputy minister mentioned yesterday, that program is under in-depth review. The government spends about $26 million a year on medical travel. It is one of the highest costing programs we have. It is in our interest to make sure that it works, it does what it is supposed to do, that the people are served well. Our government has a policy that says that elders over a certain age and those who need physical support, mental support in that defined...

Even though there isn’t any planning money, there is a lot of work being done on that issue. I would just like to get the deputy minister to given an update on where we are on that. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I could tell you that this is something that is of interest to us. It does take two parties to negotiate. We will continue to encourage Nunavut to come to the table on this issue. I will be talking to Minister Curley on this issue as the DMs have been working on it for the last while. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is right; we do get people dropping in our health centres and hospitals. Anyone who doesn’t have an NWT health card, they would be billed to their host provinces and territories and the billings are determined by national agreements that we talked about earlier. There’s a very set number of dollars that we are allowed to bill each other. So the money is recouped. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to advise the Member that much of what he’s saying is something that we have been discussing and working with and it’s part of the Foundation for Change plan in that we understand that we need to work on the larger framework, like the governance and delivery models but the focus in delivery needs to still be at the community level.

As mentioned earlier by the deputy minister, the recruitment and retention of physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, for example, we have 68-plus positions and we have about 20 vacancies. While we are trying to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know the Member is good, but I don’t know how he got dental care into primary care, but, anyway, I’d be happy to answer him with the information. This dental issue in general comes up everywhere I travel. It is a big issue for our community people, but it’s important for people to know that dental care is not a responsibility of the GNWT. It is not an insured service. It is the federal government that provides dental care to our aboriginal peoples. The non-aboriginal people in the Territories, they get dental coverage by their own insurance. Dental care is not part...