Lesa Semmler

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the proposed online booking system, this is -- NTHSSA is aware that the department within NTHSSA has added this to their intake process for IT projects, and that's triage based on the funding and need and so we are currently, as you know, having a very huge deficit of IT infrastructure. So I will make sure I figure out if there is a timeline or if this is going to move forward and how much this is, and I can report back to the Member with any of that information once I have it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I do have, I have the -- there is a home care nurse and two home support workers that are located in Fort Providence. They do report to the nurse -- the home care nurse in-charge from the Deh Cho out of Simpson. I will have to get back to the Member on the other three communities that she serves. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can say is, yes, paramedics have been used in circumstances where there hasn't been any -- enough nurses available, community health nurses available in some of the health centres. When there's a shortage and they've expanded all ways to try and recruit, even locums, they reached out and they have paramedics that go in. The paramedics, however, are there used to assist nurses to do assessments in triage so that frees up the community health nurse in the health centre. They don't work on call, and they don't work alone. And while they're working in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at this time, there is no sustainable funding for the existing managed alcohol program at Spruce Bough. The priority would be to secure a sustainable funding for that program before looking at expansion. It should be noted that expansion will require new resources. One of the things that, you know, even as a Regular Member before during COVID, many of the Indigenous governments and Indigenous population, you know, I think this is -- you know, we have to understand and we have to be able to work with individual NGOs, different communities, and what their...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, the PA was hired late December and so now he's doing the -- he's analyzing. So I would not expect him to come in with a work plan. I want him -- his direction was to come in, work with our administration, work with, you know, a lot of our other groups that we have work. He's met with the medical association. He will be meeting with CAN. He will be going out to the regions to meet with the CEOs and how they run their operations. And then he'll be complying what his mandate is into his work plan. And so I'm hoping that I'll be able to share...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the public administrator has met with the health sustainability unit leadership. Part of his role is to ensure that NTHSSA collaborates with this unit to support the government's goal of improving health services while maintaining fiscal sustainability. So I think they've met a couple of times now. The sustainability, as we all know, works with the entire health and social services system, including all three health authorities, whereas the PA's focus is solely on NTHSSA's operations. This unit, established last year, has a project charter and is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And, Mr. Speaker, the short answer is NorthwesTel and TSC are working together to trial a new system right now currently. Software and equipment have been procured. Staff are in training. And this will be tested within the next couple weeks, and then the trial -- live trial is expected sometime this month for that system to be ready. So I'm hoping that this will work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd have to get more specifics from the Member, and I'm willing to have that conversation with him to figure out what the issue is and what's being -- the breach is, if there is a breach. I mean, we have stringent, like rules around sharing of private information, of health information. So I would further like to discuss this with the Member, and we can deal with it in the appropriate channels. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this committee recommendation. I've reflected on my experience both as a Regular Member and as the past chair of Committee of the Whole in the 19th Assembly. I've also considered where discussions like this usually take place in the Legislative Assembly and where there are several areas where this happens.

Mr. Chair, question period: Members have the opportunity to ask any question they like during question period. Members may use this time during question period to question Ministers about the statements they have made as...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I'm glad that the Member asked this question because this is -- this piece here is near and dear to my heart, and this is what the direction as it was given to the department as part of this is reviewing our staffing models in our health centres and not just, you know, our centres that currently have nurses but all health centres across the territory. We have nine communities that have no -- you know, they have a CHR, and if we're lucky they have a home support worker in those communities. We need to be looking at, you know, the incidents of how much, you know...