Lesa Semmler

Thank you. I'm going to pass it to my ADM, Jeannie Mathison, to see if she can help answer this question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And I want to congratulate the Member on his 11 weeks of not smoking. As we know that smoking is -- yes, as the Member has mentioned, and there are a number of things that we have available for NWT residents who want to quit smoking. There is now -- we have merged the NWT Quit Line to 8-1-1, so it makes it a lot easier. The Help Line and the Quit Line have been merged together so you just have to call 8-1-1, residents who want to quit smoking or vaping, from any community in Northwest Territories, can speak to a registered nurse and trained support to help them on their...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think the reductions in this area was part of the sunsetting of the northern wellness agreement related to -- and then there was a reduction in COVID endemic. I don't have the details as to specific which region those were, but we can figure that out and get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know that there was a review done I think 2020. We do do reviews on patients that, you know, with renal disease and where they are and what their needs are going to be. I'm not familiar when -- I mean, I can get back to the Member as to when the next planned review will be. I'm sure it's going to be soon, to just find that out. But another area that I -- you know, and this is part of our business plans is the chronic disease management. And this is a chronic disease. And so when we can better know and better control our -- what we -- you know, with our chronic disease...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left, I have the deputy minister, Jo-Anne Cecchetto. And to my right, I have Jeannie Mathison.

We can provide that information to committee.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what we -- I guess where to start is that the department, you know, working with -- as I mentioned, with housing and Infrastructure, did kind of a callout to and got some interest from different NGOs, and so we were able to come to an agreement with two within the funding agreements -- like, within the funding and the resources that we do currently have to be able to move forward on two. However, I hear the Member. I know this is a -- you know, we don't know how it's going to work but we know it's better than what we have. You know, there's nothing, right, for...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, you know, I think many of our communities are, you know, we have different models that are going on in our communities. We have job shares. We have term nurses. We have full-time indeterminant ones that have been there for years. The last resort that we want to use is agency nurses. And, you know, as a nurse I know that sometimes, yes, you're frustrated with that model but when you're the only one in there and that's the nurse that's going to come in and relieve you so you're not working 24 hours a day, you're very appreciative to have some time. So I hear the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am pleased to present the 2024-2025 Main Estimates for the Department of Health and Social Services. Overall, the department's estimates propose an increase of $36.5 million, or 6 percent, over the 2023-2024 Main Estimates. These estimates support the mandate objectives for the Department of Health and Social Services while continuing to meet the GNWT's fiscal objectives to prioritize responsible and strategic spending.

Highlights of these proposed estimates include:

$28.3 million to address forced growth in a number of program areas, including the out of...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sorry, the $3.055 million is the community wellness and addiction recovery fund, the one that I keep kind of talking about that Indigenous governments can apply on. And that is separate from the mental wellness and addiction recovery capacity building fund -- or no, sorry, the mental wellness and addiction recovery fund. In the one here is, 125, is used for the youth addiction prevention and youth detox model.